?e  Dorr 


INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN 
REVOLUTION 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK   •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO 
DALLAS   •    ATLANTA   •    SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON   •    BOMBAY   •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OP  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


Catherine  Breshkovskaia,   the  "Little  Grandmother  of  the  Russian 
Revolution." 


INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN 
REVOLUTION 


BY 

RHETA  CHILDE  DORR 


ILLUSTRATED 


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J|eto$orft 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1917 

AW  rigihd  reserved 


^  Copyright,  1917, 

By    THE    EVENING   MAIL 
Copyright,  1017, 
By  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  Electrotypcd.    Published  November,  1017 
.    •      •      ••«  •  •  ••  •    .•* 


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•  .   - ••  •  • 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I  Topsy-Turvy  Land 

PAGE 
I 

II  "All  the  Power  to  the  Soviet"  .     . 

IO 

Ill  The  July  Revolution 

>            19 

IV  An  Hour  of  Hope 

i           30 

V  The  Committee  Mania 

■           41 

VI  The  Woman  with  the  Gun       .     .     . 

•            50 

VII  To  the  Front  with  Botchkareva 

-           58 

VIII  Camp  and  Battlefield 

■           ^ 

IX  Amazons  in  Training 

>      75 

X  The  Homing  Exiles — Two  Kinds       .     , 

,      84 

XI  How  Rasputin  Died       ...... 

»      97 

XII  Anna  Virubova  Speaks 

,     107 

XIII  More  Leaves  in  the  Current      .     . 

.     119 

XIV  The  Passing  of  the  Romanoffs    . 

129 

XV  The  House  of  Mary  and  Martha 

141 

XVI  The  Tavarishi  Face  Famine    .     .     . 

152 

XVII  General  January,  the  Conqueror    . 

162 

XVIII  When  the  Workers  Own  Their  Tools 

172 

XIX  Why  Cotton  Cloth  Is  Scarce       .     . 

,     181 

XX  Mrs.  Pankhurst  in  Russia      .     .     . 

189 

XXI  Kerensky,  the  Mystery  Man      .     . 

-     199 

XXII  The  Rights  of  Small  Nations      .     . 

.     208 

XXIII  Will  the  Germans  Take  Petrogkad? 

.     217 

XXIV  Russia's  Greatest  Needs  .... 

,     226 

XXV  What  Next? 

21* 

502 1 0 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Catherine  Breshkovskaia,  the  "Little  Grandmother 
of  the  Russian  Revolution." Frontispiece 

FACING 

Typical  crowd  on  the  Nevski  Prospect  during  the    PAGE 
Bolshevik  or  Maximalist  risings 22 

Kerensky  watching  the  funeral  of  victims  of  the  July 
Bolshevik  risings 42 

Mareea  Botchkareva,  Mrs.  Emmeline  Pankhurst  and 
Women  of  "The  Battalion  of  Death."     ....       52 

Prince  Felix  Yussupoff,  at  whose  palace  on  the 
Moika  Canal  Rasputin  was  killed,  and  his  wife, 
the  Grand  Duchess  Irene  Alexandrovna,  niece  of 
the  late  Czar 92 

Gregory  Rasputin  and  some  of  his  female  devotees     .     108 

Alexander  Feodorovitch  Kerensky 142 

The  Grand  Duchess  Elizabeta  Feodorovna,  sister  of 
the  late  Czarina,  and  widow  of  the  Grand  Duke 
Serge,  who  was  assassinated  during  the  Revolution 
of  1905,  now  Abbess  of  the  House  of  Mary  and 
Martha  at  Moscow 150 


INSIDE   THE   RUSSIAN 
REVOLUTION 


CHAPTER  I 

TOPSY-TURVY   LAND 

Early  in  May,  19 17,  I  went  to  Russia,  eager  to 
see  again,  in  the  hour  of  her  deliverance,  a  country 
in  whose  struggle  for  freedom  I  had,  for  a  dozen 
years,  been  deeply  interested.  I  went  to  Russia  a  so-< 
cialist  by  conviction,  an  ardent  sympathizer  with  rev- 
olution, having  known  personally  some  of  the  brave 
men  and  women  who  suffered  imprisonment  and  ex- 
ile after  the  failure  of  the  uprising  in  1905-6.  I  re- 
turned from  Russia  with  the  very  clear  conviction 
that  the  world  will  have  to  wait  awhile  before  it 
can  establish  any  cooperative  millenniums,  or  before 
it  can  safely  hand  over  the  work  of  government  to 
the  man  in  the  street. 

All  my  life  I  have  been  an  admiring  student  of  the 
French  revolution,  and  I  have  fervently  wished  that 
I  might  have  lived  in  the  Paris  of  that  time,  to  wit- 
ness, even  as  a  humble  spectator,  the  downfall  of 
autocracy  and  the  birth  of  a  people's  liberty.  Well 
— I  lived  for  three  months  in  the  capital  of  revolu- 


2'    "  INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

tionary  Russia.  I  saw  a  revolution  which  pre- 
sents close  parallels  with  the  French  revolution  both 
in  men  and  events.  I  saw  the  downfall  of  au- 
tocracy and  the  birth  of  liberty  much  greater  than 
the  French  ever  aspired  to.  I  saw  the  fondest 
dream  of  the  socialists  suddenly  come  true,  and  the 
dream  turned  out  to  be  a  nightmare  such  as  I  pray 
that  this  or  any  country  may  forever  be  spared. 

I  saw  a  people  delivered  from  one  class  tyranny 
deliberately  hasten  to  establish  another,  quite  as 
brutal  and  as  unmindful  of  the  common  good  as  the 
old  one.  I  saw  these  people,  led  out  of  groaning 
bondage,  use  their  first  liberty  to  oust  the  wise  and 
courageous  statesmen  who  had  delivered  them.  I 
saw  a  working  class  which  had  been  oppressed  under 
czardom  itself  turn  oppressor;  an  army  that  had 
been  starved  and  betrayed  use  its  freedom  to  starve 
and  betray  its  own  people.  I  saw  elected  delegates  to 
the  people's  councils  turn  into  sneak  thieves  and 
looters.  I  saw  law  and  order  and  decency  and  all 
regard  for  human  life  or  human  rights  set  aside, 
and  I  saw  responsible  statesmen  in  power  allow  all 
this  to  go  on,  allow  their  country  to  rush  toward  an 
abyss  of  ruin  and  shame  because  they  were  afraid 
to  lose  popularity  with  the  mob. 

The  government  was  so  afraid  of  losing  the 
support  of  the  mob  that  it  permitted  the 
country  to  be  overrun  by  German  agents  pos- 
ing as  socialists.  These  agents  spent  fortunes 
in  the  separate  peace  propaganda  alone.  They 
demoralized  the  army,  corrupted  the  workers  in  field 
and  factories,  and  put  machine  guns  in  the  hands  of 
fanatical  dreamers,  sending  them  out  into  the  streets 


TOPSY-TURVY  LAND  3 

to  murder  their  own  friends  and  neighbors.  Every 
one  knew  who  these  men  were,  but  the  mob  liked 
their  "line  of  talk"  and  the  government  was  afraid 
to  touch  them.  After  one  of  the  last  occasions  when, 
at  their  behest,  the  Bolsheviki  went  out  and  shot  up 
Petrograd,  Lenine,  the  arch  leader,  and  some  of  his 
principal  gangsters  deemed  it  the  part  of  discretion 
to  retire  from  Russia  temporarily,  and  they  got  to 
Sweden  without  the  slightest  difficulty,  no  attempt 
having  been  made  to  stop  them.  Some  of  the  minor 
employees  of  the  Kaiser  were  arrested,  among  them 
a  woman  in  whose  name  the  bank  account  appeared 
to  be.  But  she  too,  and  probably  all  the  others, 
were  later  released. 

A  government  like  this  could  not  bring  peace  and 
order  into  a  distracted  nation.  It  could  not  estab- 
lish a  democracy.  It  could  not  govern.  The  sooner 
the  allied  countries  realize  this  the  better  it  will  be 
for  Russia  and  for  the  world  that  wants  peace.  It 
is  not  because  I  am  unfriendly  to  Russia  that  I  write 
thus.  It  is  because  I  am  friendly,  because  I  have 
faith  in  the  future  of  the  Russian  people,  because  I 
believe  that  their  experiment  in  popular  government, 
if  it  succeeds,  will  be  as  inspiring  to  the  rest  of  the 
world  as  our  own  was  in  the  eighteenth  century.  I 
think  the  most  unkind  thing  any  friend  of  Russia  can 
do  is  to  minimize  or  conceal  the  facts  about  the  ter- 
rible upheaval  going  on  there  at  the  present  time. 
Russia  looks  to  the  American  people  for  help  in  her 
troubled  hour,  and  if  the  American  people  are  to 
help  they  will  have  to  understand  the  situation.  No 
discouragement  to  the  allies,  no  assistance  to  the 
common  enemy  need  result  from  a  plain  statement 


4        INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

of  the  facts.     The  enemy  knows  all  the  facts  al- 
ready. 

Everything  I  saw  in  Russia,  in  the  cities  and  near 
the  front,  convinced  me  that  what  is  going  on  there 
vitally  concerns  us.  Every  man,  woman  and  child 
in  the  United  States  must  get  to  work  to  give  the 
help  so  sorely  needed  by  the  allies.  Whatever  has 
failed  in  Russia,  whatever  has  broken  down  must 
never  be  missed.  We  must  supply  these  deficiencies. 
Our  business  now  is  to  understand,  and  to  hurry, 
hurry,  hurry  with  our  task  of  getting  trained  and 
seasoned  men  into  France.  After  what  I  saw  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Vilna,  Dvinsk  and  Jacobstadt,  I 
know  what  haste  on  this  side  means  to  the  world. 
There  are  several  reasons  why  the  whole  truth  has 
not  before  been  written  about  the  Russian  revolu- 
tion. It  could  not  be  written  or  cabled  from  Rus- 
sia. It  could  not  be  carried  out  in  the  form  of  notes 
or  photographs.  It  could  not  even  be  discovered  by 
the  average  person  who  goes  to  Russia,  because  the 
average  visitor  lives  at  the  expensive  Hotel  d'Eu- 
rope,  never  goes  out  except  in  a  droshky,  and  meets 
only  Russians  of  social  position  to  whom  he  has 
letters  of  introduction,  and  who  naturally  try  to  give 
him  the  impression  that  the  troubled  state  of  affairs 
is  merely  temporary.  The  visitor  usually  knows  no 
Russian  and  cannot  read  the  newspapers.  There 
are  two  good  French  newspapers  published  in  Pet- 
rograd,  but  the  average  American  traveler  is  as 
ignorant  of  French  as  of  Russian.  Even  if  he  could 
read  all  the  daily  papers,  however,  he  would  not  get 
very  much  information.  The  press  censorship  is  as 
rigid  and  as  tyrannical  to-day  as  in  the  heyday  of 


TOPSY-TURVY  LAND  5 

the  autocracy,  only  a  different  kind  of  news  is  sup- 
pressed. One  of  the  modest  demands  put  forth  by 
the  Tavarishi  (comrades)  when  I  was  in  Petrograd 
was  for  a  requisition  of  all  the  white  print  paper  in 
the  market,  the  paper  to  be  distributed  equally 
among  all  newspapers,  large  and  small.  The  ob- 
ject, candidly  stated,  was  to  diminish  the  size  and  the 
circulation  of  the  "bourgeois"  papers. 

A  great  deal  of  news,  as  we  regard  news,  never 
gets  into  the  papers  at  all,  or  is  compressed  into 
very  small  space.  For  example  there  have  been  a 
number  of  terrible  railroad  accidents  on  the  Rus- 
sian roads.  Most  of  these  one  never  heard  of  un- 
less some  one  he  knew  happened  to  be  killed  or 
injured.  Sometimes  a  bare  announcement  of  a  great 
fatality  was  permitted.  Thus  an  express  train  be- 
tween Moscow  and  Petrograd  was  wrecked,  forty 
persons  being  killed  and  more  than  seventy  injured. 
This  wreck  got  a  whole  paragraph  in  the  news- 
papers, with  no  list  of  the  dead  and  injured  and  no 
explanation  of  the  cause.  The  fact  is  that  the  rail- 
roads are  in  a  condition  of  complete  demoralization 
and  the  only  wonder  is  that  more  wrecks  do  not 
occur. 

An  acquaintance  of  mine  in  Moscow,  the  wife  of 
a  colonel  in  the  British  army,  was  anxious  to  go  to 
Petrograd  to  meet  her  husband  who  was  expected 
there  on  his  way  from  the  front.  My  friend's 
father,  who  is  the  managing  head  of  a  large  Mos- 
cow business  concern,  tried  to  prevail  on  her  to  wait 
for  her  husband  to  reach  her  there,  but  she  was 
anxious  to  see  him  at  the  earliest  moment  and  in- 
sisted on  her  tickets  being  purchased.    The  day  after 


6        INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

she  was  to  have  gone  her  father  called  on  me  and 
told  me  of  his  intense  relief  at  receiving,  an  hour 
before  train  time,  a  telegram  from  the  colonel  say- 
ing that  he  would  be  in  Moscow  the  next  morning. 

"And  what  do  you  think  happened  to  that  train 
my  daughter  was  to  have  taken?"  he  asked.  It  was 
the  regular  night  express  to  Petrograd,  correspond- 
ing somewhat  to  the  Congressional  Limited  between 
New  York  and  Washington.  A  few  miles  out  of 
Moscow  a  difference  arose  between  the  engineer  and 
the  stoker,  and  in  order  to  settle  it  they  stopped  the 
train  and  had  a  fight.  One  of  the  men  hit  the  other 
on  the  head  with  a  monkey  wrench,  injuring  him 
pretty  badly.  Authority  of  some  kind  stepped  in 
and  arrested  the  assailant.  The  engineer's  cab  was 
blood-stained,  and  some  authority  unhitched  the 
engine  and  sent  it  back  to  Moscow  as  evidence.  The 
train  all  this  time,  with  its  hundreds  of  passengers, 
stood  on  the  tracks  waiting  for  a  new  engine  and 
crew,  and  if  it  was  not  run  into  and  wrecked  it  was 
because  it  was  lucky. 

About  the  middle  of  August  an  American  corre- 
spondent traveled  on  that  same  express  train  from 
Petrograd  to  Moscow.  The  night  was  warm,  and 
as  the  Russian  occupants  of  his  carriage  had  the 
usual  constitutional  objection  to  raised  windows,  he 
insisted  on  leaving  the  door  of  the  compartment 
open.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  a  band  of  soldiers 
boarded  the  train  and  went  into  every  one  of  the  un- 
locked compartments,  five  in  all,  neatly  and  silently 
looting  them  of  all  bags  and  suitcases.  The  Ameri- 
can correspondent  lost  everything  he  possessed — 
extra  clothes,  money,  passport,  papers.    There  was 


TOPSY-TURVY  LAND  7 

a  Russian  staff  officer  in  that  compartment  and  he 
lost  even  the  clothes  he  traveled  in,  and  was  obliged 
to  descend  in  his  pajamas.  The  conductor  of  the 
train  admitted  that  he  saw  the  robbery  committed, 
that  he  raised  no  hand  to  prevent  it,  nor  even  pressed 
the  signal  which  would  have  stopped  the  train. 
"They  would  have  killed  me,"  he  pleaded  in  exten- 
uation. "Besides,  it  happens  almost  every  night  on 
a  small  or  large  scale. " 

There  is  only  one  way  of  getting  at  the  facts  of 
the  Russian  situation,  and  that  is  by  living  as  the 
Russians  do,  associating  with  Russians,  hearing 
their  stories  day  by  day  of  the  tragedy  of  what  has 
been  called  the  bloodless  revolution.  This  I  did,  as 
nearly  as  it  was  possible,  from  the  end  of  May  until 
the  30th  of  August,  in  Petrograd,  Moscow  and  be- 
hind one  of  the  fighting  fronts.  In  Petrograd  I 
lived  in  the  Hotel  Militaire,  formerly  the  Astoria, 
the  headquarters  of  Russian  officers  and  of  the  nu- 
merous English,  French  and  Roumanian  officers  on 
missions  in  Russia.  This  was  the  hotel  where  the 
bitterest  fighting  took  place  during  the  revolution- 
ary days  of  February,  19 17.  The  outside  of  the 
building  is  literally  riddled  with  bullets,  every  win- 
dow had  to  be  replaced,  and  the  work  of  renovat- 
ing the  interior  was  still  going  on  when  I  left.  Un- 
der the  window  in  my  bedroom  was  a  pool  of  dried 
blood  as  big  as  a  saucer,  and  the  carpet  was  stained 
with  drops  leading  from  the  window  to  the  station- 
ary washbowl  in  the  alcove  dressing  room.  Over 
the  bed  were  two  bullet  holes. 

Since  the  revolution  the  Hotel  Militaire  has 
been  a  garrison,  soldiers  sleeping  in  several  rooms 


8        INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

on  the  ground  floor  and  two  sentinels  standing 
day  and  night  at  the  door  and  at  the  gateway  lead- 
ing into  the  service  court.  I  do  not  know 
why,  when  I  asked  for  a  room,  the  manager 
gave  it  to  me.  Two  other  women  writers  had 
rooms  there,  but  one  was  in  a  party  which  in- 
cluded American  officers,  and  the  other  was  intro- 
duced by  an  English  officer  attached  to  the  British 
embassy.  However,  I  took  the  room  and  was  grate- 
ful, because  whatever  happened  in  Petrograd  was 
quickly  known  in  the  hotel.  Also,  it  faced  the  square 
on  which  was  located  the  Marie  Palace,  where  the 
provisional  government  held  many  of  its  meetings, 
and  where  several  important  congresses  were  held. 
Whenever  the  Bolsheviki  broke  loose  this  square 
always  saw  some  fighting.  It  was  an  excellent  place 
for  a  correspondent  to  live. 

I  spent  much  of  my  time  in  the  streets,  listening, 
with  the  aid  of  an  interpreter,  a  young  university 
girl,  to  the  speeches  which  were  continually  being 
made  up  and  down  the  Nevski  Prospect,  the  Litainy 
and  other  principal  streets.  I  talked,  through  my  in- 
terpreter, with  people  who  sat  beside  me  on  park 
benches,  in  trams,  railroad  trains  and  other  public 
places.  I  met  all  the  Russians  I  could,  people  of 
every  walk  of  life,  of  every  political  faith.  I  spent 
days  in  factories.  I  talked  with  workers  and  with 
employers.  I  even  met  and  talked  with  adherents 
of  the  old  regime.  I  talked  for  nearly  an  hour  with 
the  last  Romanoff  left  in  freedom,  the  Grand  Duch- 
ess Serge,  sister  of  the  former  empress,  widow  of 
the  emperor's  uncle.  I  went,  late  at  night,  to  a  pal- 
ace on  the  Grand  Morskaia  where  in  strictest  retire- 


TOPSY-TURVY  LAND  9 

ment  lives  the  woman  who  has  been  charged  with 
being  the  closest  friend  and  ally  of  Rasputin,  the 
one  who,  at  his  orders,  is  alleged  to  have  adminis- 
tered poison  to  the  young  Czarevitch.  I  traveled 
in  a  troop  train  two  days  and  nights  with  a  regiment 
of  fighting  women — the  Botchkareva  "Battalion  of 
Death" — and  I  lived  with  them  in  their  barrack  be- 
hind the  fighting  lines  for  nine  days.  I  stayed  with 
them  until  they  went  into  action,  I  saw  them 
afterward  in  the  hospitals  and  heard  their  own  sto- 
ries of  the  battle  into  which  they  led  thousands  of  re- 
luctant men.  I  talked  with  many  soldiers  and  offi- 
cers. 

Russia  is  sick.  She  is  gorged  on  something  she 
has  never  known  before — freedom:  she  is  sick  al- 
most to  die  with  excesses,  and  the  leadership  which 
would  bring  the  panacea  is  violently  thrown  aside 
because  suspicion  of  any  authority  has  bred  the 
worst  kind  of  license.  Russia  is  insane;  she  is  not 
even  morally  responsible  for  what  she  is  doing.  Will 
she  recover?  Yes.  But,  God!  what  pain  must  she 
bear  before  she  gets  real  freedom! 


CHAPTER  II 

"all  the  power  to  the  soviet" 

About  the  first  thing  I  saw  on  the  morning  of 
my  arrival  in  Petrograd  last  spring  was  a  group  of 
young  men,  about  twenty  in  number,  I  should  think, 
marching  through  the  street  in  front  of  my  hotel, 
carrying  a  scarlet  banner  with  an  inscription  in  large 
white  letters. 

"What  does  that  banner  say?"  I  asked  the  hotel 
commissionaire  who  stood  beside  me. 

"It  says  *AU  the  Power  to  the  Soviet,'  "  was  the 
answer. 

"What  is  the  soviet?"  I  asked,  and  he  replied 
briefly : 

"It  is  the  only  government  we  have  in  Russia 
now." 

And  he  was  right.  The  Soviets,  or  councils  of  sol- 
diers' and  workmen's  delegates,  which  have  spread 
like  wildfire  throughout  the  country,  are  the  nearest 
thing  to  a  government  that  Russia  has  known  since 
the  very  early  days  of  the  revolution. 

The  most  striking  parallel  between  the  French 
and  the  Russian  revolutions  lies  in  the  facility  with 
which  both  were  snatched  away  from  the  sane  and 
intelligent  men  who  began  them  and  placed  in  the 
hands  of  fanatics,  who  turned  them  into  mad  orgies 
of  blood  and  terror.  The  first  French  revolution- 
ists rebelled  against  the  theory  of  the  divine  right  of 

10 


"ALL  THE  POWER  TO  THE  SOVIET"        n 

kings  to  govern  or  misgovern  the  people.  They 
wanted  a  constitution  and  a  government  by  consent 
of  the  governed.  But  the  mob  came  in  and  took 
possession  of  the  situation,  and  the  result  was  the 
guillotine  and  the  reign  of  terror.  Miliukoff,  Rod- 
zianko,  Lvoff,  and  their  associates  in  the  Russian 
Duma,  rebelled  against  a  stupid,  cruel  autocrat  who 
was  doing  his  best  to  lose  the  war  and  to  bring  the 
country  to  ruin  and  dishonor.  They  wanted  a  con- 
stitution for  Russia,  and,  for  the  time  being  at  least, 
a  figurehead  king  who  would  leave  government  in 
the  hands  of  responsible  ministers.  But  the  Pet- 
rograd  council  of  soldiers'  and  workmen's  delegates 
came  in  and  took  possession  of  the  situation,  and  the 
result  is  a  country  torn  with  anarchy,  brought  to  the 
verge  of  bankruptcy,  and  ready,  unless  something 
happens  between  now  and  next  spring,  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  Germans. 

These  councils  of  workmen  are  not  new.  In  the 
upheaval  of  1905-06  a  man  named  Khrustaliov,  a 
labor  leader,  became  the  head  of  an  organization 
called  the  Petrograd  Council  of  Workmen's  Depu- 
ties. It  was  made  up  of  elected  delegates  from  all 
the  principal  factories  in  and  near  the  capital,  and 
during  the  general  strike  which  forced  Nicholas  to 
convene  the  first  Duma,  the  council  assumed  general 
control  of  the  whole  labor  situation,  managing  mat- 
ters with  rare  good  sense  and  firmness.  Witte,  who 
became  premier  in  those  days,  negotiated  with  Khru- 
staliov as  with  an  equal.  For  a  time  he  and  his 
council  were  a  real  power  in  the  empire.  A  dozen 
cities  formed  similar  organizations.  There  were 
councils  of  workmen's  deputies,  peasants'  deputies, 


12       INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

even,  in  some  places,  of  soldiers'  deputies.  The  re- 
action which  came  in  July,  1906,  swept  them  all  into 
oblivion,  and  I  never  found  anybody  who  knew  what 
became  of  Khrustaliov.  But  the  tradition  of  the 
council  of  workmen's  deputies  was  unforgotten. 
Perhaps  the  council  even  existed  still  in  secret;  I  do 
not  know.  It  was  quickly  revived  in  March,  19 17, 
and  before  the  political  revolution  was  fairly  ac- 
complished it  had  added  soldiers  to  its  title  and  had 
curtly  informed  the  provisional  government  and  the 
Duma  that  no  laws  could  be  made  or  enforced  with- 
out first  having  received  the  approval  of  the  work- 
ing people's  representatives.  No  policy  in  peace  or 
war  could  be  announced  or  put  into  practice;  no  or- 
ders could  be  given  the  army;  no  treaties  concluded 
with  the  allies ;  in  short,  nothing  could  be  done  with- 
out first  consulting  the  1,500  men  and  women — 
five  women — who  made  up  the  Council  of  Work- 
men's and  Soldiers'  Delegates. 

If  the  country  had  been  in  a  condition  of  peace  in- 
stead of  war  this  would  not  have  been  at  all  a  bad 
thing.  The  working  people  of  Russia,  under  the 
electoral  system  devised  by  the  old  regime,  had  very 
little  representation  in  the  Duma,  and  they  had  a 
perfect  right  to  demand  a  voice  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  new  government.  But  unfortunately  the 
country  was  at  war;  and  more  unfortunately  still, 
the  Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates 
was  made  up  in  large  part  of  extreme  radicals  to 
whom  the  war  was  a  matter  of  entire  indifference. 
The  revolution  to  them  meant  an  opportunity  to 
put  into  practice  new  economic  theories,  the  social- 
istic state.    They  conceived  the  vast  dream  of  estab- 


"ALL  THE  POWER  TO  THE  SOVIET"        13 

lishing  a  new  order  of  society,  not  only  for  Russia 
but  for  the  whole  world.  They  were  going  to  dic- 
tate terms  of  peace,  and  call  on  the  working  people 
of  every  country  to  join  them  in  enforcing  that  peace. 
After  that  they  were  going  to  do  away  with  all  capi- 
talists, bankers,  investors,  property  owners.  Ar- 
mies and  navies  were  to  be  scrapped.  I  don't  know 
what  they  purposed  doing  with  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States,  but  "capitalistic"  America  was  to 
be  made  over  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Many  members  of  this  council  are  well-meaning 
theorists,  dreamers,  exactly  like  thousands  in  this 
country  who  read  no  books  or  newspapers  except 
those  written  by  their  own  kind,  who  "express  them- 
selves" by  wearing  red  ties  and  long  hair,  and  who 
exist  in  a  cloudy  world  of  their  own.  These  people 
are  honest  and  they  are  capable  of  being  reasoned 
with.  In  Russia  they  are  known  as  Minsheviki, 
meaning  small  claims.  A  noisy  and  troublesome  and 
growing  minority  in  the  council  are  called  Bolshe- 
viki  (big  claims),  because  they  demand  everything 
and  will  not  even  consider  compromise.  They  want 
a  separate  peace,  entirely  favorable  to  Germany. 
I  talked  to  a  number  of  these  men,  but  I  could  never 
get  one  of  them  to  explain  the  reason  of  this  friend- 
ship for  Germany.  Vaguely  they  seemed  to  feel  that 
socialism  was  a  German  doctrine  and,  therefore,  as 
soon  as  Russia  put  it  into  practice,  the  Germans 
would  follow  suit.  Not  all  the  council  members  are 
working  people.  Some  have  never  done  a  hand's 
turn  of  manual  work  in  their  lives.  Many  of  the 
soldier  members  have  never  seen  service  and  never 
will.    The  Jewish  membership  is  very  large,  and  in 


i4      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

Russia  the  Jews  have  never  been  allowed  any  prac- 
tice of  citizenship. 

Lastly  the  council  is  liberally  sprinkled  with  Ger- 
man spies  and  agents.  Every  once  in  a  while  one  of 
these  men  is  unmasked  and  put  out.  But  it  is  more 
than  likely  that  his  place  is  quickly  filled.  It  is  a 
most  difficult  thing  to  convince  the  council  that  any 
"Tavarish,"  which  is  the  Russian  word  for  comrade, 
can  be  guilty  of  double  dealing.  The  council  de- 
fended Lenine  up  to  the  last  moment.  Even  after 
he  fled  the  country  the  Socialist  newspapers,  Isves- 
tia,  Pravda,  and  Maxim  Gorki's  Nova  Jisn, 
declared  him  to  be  the  victim  of  an  odious  calumny. 
It  was  this  Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Del- 
egates that  first  claimed  a  consultive  position  in  the 
government,  and  within  a  few  months  was  parading 
the  streets  with  banners  demanding  "All  the  Power 
to  the  Soviet." 

I  cannot  say  that  I  unreservedly  blame  them. 
They  were  people  who  had  never  known  any  kind 
of  freedom,  they  had  been  poor  and  oppressed  and 
afraid  of  their  lives.  All  of  a  sudden  they  were 
freed.  And  when  they  went  in  numbers  to  the  Du- 
ma and  claimed  a  right  to  a  voice  in  their  own  fu- 
ture, men  like  Kerensky  and  others,  who  are  honest 
dreamers,  others  plain  demagogues  and  office  seek- 
ers, came  out  and  lauded  them  to  the  skies,  told 
them  that  the  world  was  theirs,  that  they  alone  had 
brought  about  the  revolution  and  therefore  had  a 
right  to  take  possession  of  the  country.  The  effect 
of  this  on  soldiers  and  on  the  working  people  was 
immediate  and  disastrous. 

If  Kerensky  was  not  the  author  of  the  famous 


"ALL  THE  POWER  TO  THE  SOVIET"        15 

Order  No.  1,  which  was  the  cause  of  most  of  the 
riot  and  bloodshed  in  the  army,  he  at  least  signed  it 
and  defended  it.  This  order  provided  for  regimen- 
tal government  by  committees,  the  election  of  offi- 
cers by  the  soldiers,  the  doing  away  with  all  salut- 
ing of  superiors  by  enlisted  men  and  the  abolition  of 
the  title  "your  nobility,"  which  was  the  form  of  ad- 
dress used  to  officers.  In  place  of  this  form  the  sol- 
diers were  henceforth  to  address  their  officers  as 
Gospodeen  (meaning  mister),  captain,  colonel,  gen- 
eral, as  the  case  might  be.  Order  No.  1  was  a  plain 
license  to  disband  the  Russian  army.  Abolishing 
the  custom  of  saluting  may  seem  a  small  thing.  A 
member  of  the  Root  mission  expressed  himself  thus 
to  me  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Petrograd:  "This 
talk  of  anarchy  is  all  nonsense,"  he  said.  "A  lot  of 
peacock  officers  are  sore  because  the  men  don't  sa- 
lute them  any  more.  Why  should  the  men  salute?" 
Perhaps  I  don't  know  why  they  should,  but  I 
know  that  when  they  don't  they  speedily  lose  all 
their  soldierly  bearing  and  slouch  like  tired  subway 
diggers.  They  throw  courtesy,  kindness,  consider- 
ation to  the  winds.  The  soldiers  of  other  countries 
look  on  them  with  disgust  and  horror.  At  Tornea, 
the  port  of  entry  into  Finland,  I  got  my  first  glimpse 
of  this  "free"  Russian  soldier.  He  was  handing 
some  papers  to  a  trim  British  Tommy,  who  was 
straight  as  an  arrow,  clean  cut  and  soldierly.  The 
Russian  slouched  up  to  him,  stuck  out  the  papers  in 
a  dirty  paw  and  blew  a  mouthful  of  cigarette  smoke 
in  his  face.  What  the  Tommy  said  to  him  was  in 
English,  and  I  am  afraid  was  lost  on  the  Russian, 
who  walked  off  looking  quite  pleased  with  himself. 


16      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

In  Petrograd  I  saw  two  of  these  "free"  soldiers 
address,  without  even  touching  their  caps,  a  French 
officer  who  spoke  their  language.  The  conversation 
was  repeated  to  me  thus:  "Is  it  true  that  in  your 
country,  which  calls  itself  a  democracy,  the  soldiers 
have  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  officers?    Is  it  true 

that  they "     The   interrogation  proceeded  no 

further,  for  the  Frenchman  replied  quickly:  "In 
the  first  place  French  soldiers  do  not  walk  up  to  an 
officer  and  begin  a  conversation  uninvited,  so  I  find 
it  impossible  to  answer  your  questions." 

If  he  had  been  a  Russian  officer  he  would  probably 
have  been  murdered  on  the  spot.  The  death  penalty 
having  been  abolished,  and  the  police  force  having 
been  reduced  to  an  absurdity,  murder  has  been  made 
a  safe  and  pleasant  diversion.  Murder  of  officers 
is  so  common  that  it  is  seldom  even  reported  in  the 
newspapers.  When  the  truth  is  finally  and  officially 
published,  if  it  ever  is,  it  will  be  found  that  the  bru- 
tal and  horrible  butchery  of  officers  exceeds  anything 
the  outside  world  has  ever  imagined.  I  met  a 
woman  whose  daughter  went  insane  after  her  hus- 
band was  killed  in  the  fortress  of  Kronstadt,  the 
port  of  Petrograd.  He  with  a  number  of  officers 
was  imprisoned  there,  and  some  of  the  women  went 
to  the  commander  and  begged  permission  to  see  and 
speak  to  their  men.  He  grinned  at  them,  and  said: 
"They  are  just  finishing  their  dinner.  In  a  few  min- 
utes you  may  see  them."  Shortly  afterwards  they 
were  summoned  to  a  room  where  the  men  sat  around 
a  table.  They  were  tied  in  their  chairs,  and  were 
all  dead,  with  evidences  of  having  been  tortured. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  revolution  the  soldiers  of 


"ALL  THE  POWER  TO  THE  SOVIET"        17 

Kronstadt  killed  the  old  officer  commandant.  They 
began  by  gouging  out  his  eyes.  When  he  was  quite 
finished  they  brought  in  the  second  officer  in  com- 
mand and  his  young  son,  a  lieutenant  in  the  navy. 
"Will  you  join  us,  embrace  the  glorious  revolution, 
or  shall  we  kill  you?''  they  demanded.  "My  duty 
is  to  command  this  garrison,"  replied  the  officer. 
"If  you  are  going  to  kill  me  do  it  at  once."  They 
shot  him,  and  threw  his  corpse  on  a  pile  of  others  in 
a  ditch.  The  son  they  spared,  and  a  few  nights  later 
the  young  man  rescued  his  father's  body  and  brought 
it  home  to  be  buried.  This  story  was  related  under 
oath  by  him,  but  in  the  face  of  it  and  hundreds  more 
like  it  the  death  penalty  was  abolished;  nor  would 
Kerensky  consent  to  restore  it,  except  for  desertion 
at  the  front. 

At  the  Moscow  congress,  held  in  August,  Keren- 
sky  said,  apologizing  for  even  this  small  conces- 
sion: "As  minister  of  justice  I  did  away  with  the 
death  penalty.  As  president  of  the  provisional 
government  I  have  asked  for  its  reinstatement  in 
case  of  desertion  under  fire."  There  was  a  burst  of 
applause,  and  Kerensky  exclaimed:  "Do  not  ap- 
plaud. Don't  you  realize  that  we  lose  part  of  our 
souls  when  we  consent  to  the  death  penalty?  But 
if  it  is  necessary  to  lose  our  souls  to  save  Russia 
we  must  make  the  sacrifice." 

Petrograd  and  Moscow  are  literally  running  over 
with  idle  soldiers,  many  of  whom  have  never  done 
any  fighting,  and  who  loudly  declare  that  they  never 
intend  to  do  any.  They  are  supported  by  the  gov- 
ernment, wear  the  army  uniform,  claim  all  the  privi- 
leges of  the  soldier  and  live  in  complete  and  blissful 


18      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

idleness.  The  street  cars  are  crowded  with  soldiers, 
who  of  course  pay  no  fares.  It  is  impossible  for  a 
woman  to  get  a  seat  in  a  car.  She  is  lucky  if  the 
soldiers  permit  her  to  stand  in  the  aisle  or  on  a  plat- 
form. "Get  off  and  walk,  you  boorzhoi,"  said  a 
soldier  to  my  interpreter  one  day  when  she  was  has- 
tening to  keep  an  appointment  with  me.  She  got  off 
and  walked.  I  heard  but  one  person  dispute  with 
a  soldier.  She  was  a  street  car  conductor,  one  of 
the  many  women  who  have  taken  men's  places  since 
the  war.  She  turned  on  a  car  full  of  these  idlers 
riding  free  and  littering  the  floor  with  sunflower 
seeds,  which  they  eat  as  Americans  eat  peanuts, 
and  told  them  exactly  what  she  thought  of  them. 
It  must  have  been  extremely  unflattering,  for  the 
other  passengers  looked  joyful  and  only  one  sol- 
dier ventured  any  reply.  "Now,  comrade, "  said  he, 
"you  must  not  be  hard  on  wounded  men." 

"Wounded  men  I"  exclaimed  the  woman.  "If  you 
ever  get  a  wound  it  will  be  in  the  mouth  from  a 
broken  bottle."  There  was  a  burst  of  laughter,  in 
which  even  the  soldiers  joined.  But  after  it  sub- 
sided one  of  the  men  said  defiantly:  "Just  the 
same,  comrades,  it  was  we  who  sent  the  Czar  pack- 
ing." This  opinion  is  shared  by  the  Council  of 
Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates.  They  have 
completely  forgotten  that  the  Duma  had  anything 
to  do  with  the  revolution.  At  their  national  con- 
gress of  Soviets  held  in  July,  they  solemnly  debated 
whether  or  not  they  would  permit  the  Duma  to  meet 
again,  and  it  was  a  very  small  majority  that  decided 
in  favor.  But  only  on  condition  that  the  national 
body  worked  under  the  direction  of  the  councils. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  JULY  REVOLUTION 

Every  one  who  has  read  the  old  "Arabian 
Nights"  will  remember  the  story  of  the  fisherman 
who  caught  a  black  bottle  in  one  of  his  nets.  When 
the  bottle  was  uncorked  a  thin  smoke  began  to  curl 
out  of  the  neck.  The  smoke  thickened  into  a  dense 
cloud  and  became  a  huge  genie  who  made  a  slave  of 
the  fisherman.  By  the  exercise  of  his  wits  the  fish- 
erman finally  succeeded  in  getting  the  genie  back  into 
the  bottle,  which  he  carefully  corked  and  threw  back 
into  the  sea.  Kerensky  tried  desperately  to  get  the 
genie  back  into  the  bottle,  and  every  one  hoped  he 
might  succeed.  Up  to  date,  however,  there  is  little  to 
indicate  that  the  giant  has  even  begun  materially  to 
shrink.  Petrograd  is  not  the  only  city  where  the 
Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  has 
assumed  control  of  the  destinies  of  the  Russian  peo- 
ple. Every  town  has  its  council,  and  there  is  no 
question,  civil  or  military,  which  they  do  not  feel 
capable  of  settling. 

I  have  before  me  a  Petrograd  newspaper  clipping 
dated  June  12.  It  is  a  dispatch  from  the  city  of 
Minsk,  and  states  that  the  local  soviet  had  debated 
the  whole  question  of  the  resumption  of  the  offen- 
sive, the  Bolsheviki  claiming  that  the  question  was 
general  and  that  it  ought  to  be  left  for  the  men  at 

19 


20      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

the  front  to  decide.  They  themselves  were  against 
an  offensive,  deeming  it  contrary  to  the  interests  of 
the  international  movement  and  profitable  only  to 
capitalists,  foreign  as  well  as  Russian.  Workers  of 
all  countries  ought  to  struggle  against  their  govern- 
ments and  to  break  with  all  imperialist  politics.  The 
army  ought  to  be  made  more  democratic.  This 
view  prevailed,  says  the  dispatch,  by  a  vote  of  123 
against  79. 

This  is  typical.  In  some  cities  the  extreme  so- 
cialists are  in  the  majority,  in  others  the  milder  Min- 
sheviki  prevail.  In  Petrograd  it  has  been  a  sort  of 
neck  and  neck  between  them,  with  the  Minsheviki 
in  greater  number.  But  as  the  seat  of  government 
Petrograd  has  had  a  great  attraction  for  the  Ger- 
man agents,  and  they  are  all  Bolsheviki  and  very 
energetic.  Early  in  the  revolution  they  established 
two  headquarters,  one  in  the  palace  of  Mme.  Kches- 
sinskaia,  a  dancer,  high  in  favor  with  some  of  the 
grand  dukes,  and  another  on  the  Viborg  side,  a  man- 
ufacturing quarter  of  the  city.  Here  in  a  big  rifle 
factory  and  a  few  miles  down  the  Neva  in  Kron- 
stadt,  they  kept  a  stock  of  firearms,  rifles  and  ma- 
chine guns  big  enough  to  equip  an  army  division. 

The  leader  of  this  faction,  which  was  opposed  to 
war  against  Germany  but  quite  willing  to  shoot  down 
unarmed  citizens,  was  the  notorious  Lenine,  a 
proved  German  agent  whose  power  over  the  work- 
ing people  was  supreme  until  the  uprisings  in  July, 
which  were  put  down  by  the  Cossacks.  Lenine  was 
at  the  height  of  his  glory  when  the  Root  Commission 
visited  Russia,  and  the  provisional  government  was 
so  terrorized  by  him  that  it  hardly  dared  recognize 


THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  21 

the  envoys  from  "capitalistic  America."  Only  two 
members  of  the  mission  were  ever  permitted  to  ap- 
pear before  the  soviet  or  council.  They  were 
Charles  Edward  Russell  and  James  Duncan,  one  a 
socialist  and  the  other  a  labor  representative.  Both 
men  made  good  speeches,  but  not  a  line  of  them,  as 
far  as  I  could  discover,  ever  appeared  in  a  socialist 
newspaper.  In  fact,  the  visit  of  the  commission  was 
ignored  by  the  radical  press,  the  only  press  which 
reaches  75  per  cent  of  the  Russian  people. 

In  order  to  make  perfectly  clear  the  situation  as 
it  existed  during  the  spring  and  summer,  and  as  it 
exists  to-day,  I  am  going  to  describe  two  events 
which  I  witnessed  last  July.  Both  of  these  were  at- 
tempts of  the  extreme  socialists  to  bring  about  a 
separate  peace  with  Germany,  and  had  they  suc- 
ceeded in  their  plans  would  have  done  so.  More- 
over, they  might  easily  have  resulted  in  the  dismem- 
berment of  Russia. 

The  1 8th  of  June,  Russian  style,  July  1  in  our  cal- 
endar, is  a  day  that  stands  out  vividly  in  my  memory. 
For  some  time  the  Lenine  element  of  the  Work- 
men's and  Soldiers'  Council  had  planned  to  get  up 
a  demonstration  against  the  non-socialist  members 
of  the  provisional  government  and  against  the  fur- 
ther progress  of  the  war.  The  Minshevik  element 
of  the  council,  backed  by  the  government,  spoiled  the 
plan  by  voting  for  a  non-political  demonstration  in 
which  all  could  take  part,  and  which  should  be  a  me- 
morial for  the  men  and  women  killed  in  the  Febru- 
ary revolution,  and  buried  in  the  Field  of  Mars,  a 
great  open  square  once  used  for  military  reviews. 
As  the  plan  was  finally  adopted  it  provided  that 


22      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

every  one  who  wanted  to  might  march  in  this  pa- 
rade, and  no  one  was  to  carry  arms.  Great  was  the 
wrath  of  the  Lenineites,  but  the  peaceful  demonstra- 
tion came  off,  and  it  must  have  given  the  government 
its  first  thrill  of  encouragement,  for  events  that  day 
proved  that  the  Bolsheviki  or  Lenine  followers  were 
cowards  at  heart  and  could  be  handled  by  any  firm 
and  fearless  authority. 

It  was  a  beautiful  Sunday  morning,  this  eigh- 
teenth of  June,  when  I  walked  up  the  Nevski  Pros- 
pect, the  Fifth  avenue  of  Petrograd,  watching  the 
endless  procession  that  filled  the  street.  Two-thirds 
of  the  marchers  were  men,  mostly  soldiers,  but  wo- 
men were  present  also,  and  a  good  many  children. 
Red  flags  and  red  banners  were  plentiful,  the  Bol- 
shevik banners  reading  "Down  with  the  Ten  Capi- 
talistic Ministers,"  "Down  with  the  War,"  "Down 
with  the  Duma,"  "All  the  Power  to  the  Soviets," 
and  presenting  a  very  belligerent  appearance. 

With  me  that  day  was  another  woman  writer,  Miss 
Beatty  of  the  San  Francisco  Bulletin,  and  as  we 
walked  along  we  agreed  that  almost  anything  could 
happen,  and  that  we  ought  not  to  allow  ourselves 
to  get  into  a  crowd.  For  once  the  journalistic  pas- 
sion for  seeing  the  whole  thing  must  give  place  to  a 
decent  regard  for  safety.  We  had  just  agreed  that 
if  shooting  began  we  would  duck  into  the  nearest 
court  or  doorway,  when  something  did  happen — 
something  so  sudden  that  its  very  character  could 
not  be  defined.  If  it  was  a  shot,  as  some  claimed, 
we  did  not  hear  it.  All  we  heard  was  a  noise  some- 
thing like  a  sudden  wind.  That  great  crowd  march- 
ing along  the  broad  Nevski  simply  exploded.    There 


.'-••'■•*                .  Vi 

#  "*  **«§*  ~^Ml:  r                 *  H**!                        ■Fir  ^rfl"    ?*  ' '  wWI  -  * 

Typical  crowd  on  the  Nevski  Prospect  during  the  Bolshevik  or  Max- 
imalist risings. 


THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  23 

is  no  other  word  to  express  the  panic  that  turned 
it  without  any  warning  into  a  fleeing,  fighting,  strug- 
ling,  terror-stricken  mob.  The  people  rushed  in 
every  direction,  knocking  down  everything  in  their 
track.  Miss  Beatty  went  down  like  a  log,  but  she 
was  up  again  in  a  flash,  and  we  flung  ourselves 
against  a  high  iron  railing  guarding  a  shop  window. 
Directly  beside  us  lay  a  soldier  who  had  had  his 
head  cut  open  by  the  glass  sign  against  which  he  was 
thrown.      Many  others  were  injured. 

Fortunately  the  panic  was  shortlived.  It  lasted 
hardly  five  minutes,  as  a  matter  of  fact.  All  around 
the  cry  rose  that  nothing  was  the  matter,  that  the 
Cossacks  were  not  coming.  The  Cossacks,  once  the 
terror  of  the  Russian  people,  in  this  upheaval  have 
become  the  strongest  supporters  of  the  government. 
Nothing  could  better  demonstrate  the  anti-govern- 
ment intention  of  the  Bolsheviki  than  their  present 
fear  and  hatred  of  the  Cossacks.  So  the  "Tava- 
rishi"  took  up  their  battered  banners  and  resumed 
their  march.  No  one  ever  found  out  what  started 
the  panic.  Some  said  that  a  shot  was  fired  from  a 
window  on  one  of  the  banners.  Others  said  that  the 
shot  was  merely  a  tire  blowing  out.  Some  were  cer- 
tain that  they  heard  a  cry  of  "Cossacks,"  and  some 
cynics  suggested  that  the  pick-pockets,  a  numerous 
and  enterprising  class  just  now,  started  the  panic 
in  the  interests  of  business.  This  was  the  only  dis- 
turbance I  witnessed.  The  newspapers  reported  two 
more  in  the  course  of  the  day.  A  young  girl  watch- 
ing the  procession  from  the  sidewalk  suddenly  de- 
cided to  commit  suicide,  and  the  shot  she  sent 
through  her  heart  precipitated  another  panic.     Still 


24      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

a  third  one  occurred  when  two  men  got  into  a  fight 
and  one  of  them  drew  a  knife. 

The  instant  flight  of  the  crowds  and  especially  of 
the  soldiers  must  have  given  Kerensky  hope  that  the 
giant  could  be  got  back  into  the  bottle,  especially 
since  on  that  very  day,  June  18,  Russian  style,  the 
army  on  one  of  the  fronts  advanced  and  fought  a 
victorious  engagement.  The  town  went  mad  with 
joy  over  that  victory,  showing,  I  think,  that  the  heart 
of  the  Russian  people  is  still  intensely  loyal  to  the 
allies,  and  deadly  sick  of  the  fantastic  program  of 
the  extreme  socialists.  Crowds  surged  up  and  down 
the  street  bearing  banners,  flags,  pictures  of  Ke- 
rensky. They  thronged  before  the  Marie  Palace, 
where  members  of  the  government,  officers,  soldiers, 
sailors  made  long  and  rapturous  speeches,  full  of 
patriotism.  They  sang,  they  shouted,  all  day  and 
nearly  all  night.  When  they  were  not  shouting 
"Long  live  Kerensky!"  they  were  saying  "This  is 
the  last  of  the  Lenineites."  But  it  wasn't.  The 
Bolsheviki  simply  retired  to  their  dancer's  palace, 
their  Viborg  retreats  and  their  Kronstadt  strong- 
hold, and  made  another  plan. 

On  Monday  night,  July  2,  or  in  our  calendar  July 
15,  broke  out  what  is  known  as  the  July  revolution, 
the  last  bloody  demonstration  of  the  Bolsheviki.  I 
had  been  absent  from  town  for  two  weeks  and  re- 
turned to  Petrograd  early  in  the  morning  after  the 
demonstration  began.  I  stepped  out  of  the  Nicholai 
station  and  looked  around  for  a  droshky.  Not  one 
was  in  sight.  No  street  cars  were  running.  The 
town  looked  deserted.  Silence  reigned,  a  queer,  sin- 
ister kind  of  a  silence.    "What  in  the  world  has  hap- 


THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  25 

pened?"  I  asked  myself.  A  droshky  appeared  and  I 
hailed  it.  When  the  izvostchik  mentioned  his  price 
for  driving  me  to  my  hotel  I  gasped,  but  I  was  two 
miles  from  home  and  there  were  no  trams.  So  I 
accepted  and  we  made  the  journey.  Few  people 
were  abroad,  and  when  I  reached  the  hotel  I  found 
the  entrance  blocked  with  soldiers.  The  man  behind 
the  desk  looked  aghast  to  see  me  walk  in,  and  he 
hastened  to  tell  me  that  the  Bolsheviki  were  making 
trouble  again  and  all  citizens  had  been  requested  to 
stay  indoors  until  it  was  over. 

I  stayed  indoors  long  enough  to  bathe  and  change, 
and  then,  as  everything  seemed  quiet,  I  went  out. 
Confidence  was  returning  and  the  streets  looked  al- 
most normal  again.  I  walked  down  the  Morskaia, 
finding  the  main  telephone  exchange  so  closely 
guarded  that  no  one  was  even  allowed  to  walk  on 
the  sidewalk  below  it.  That  telephone  exchange 
had  been  fiercely  attacked  during  the  February  revo- 
lution, and  it  was  one  of  the  most  hotly  disputed 
strategic  positions  in  the  capital.  Later  I  am  going 
to  tell  something  of  the  part  played  in  the  revolution 
by  the  loyal  telephone  girls  of  Petrograd.  A  big 
armored  car  was  plainly  to  be  seen  in  the  courtyard 
of  the  building,  and  many  soldiers  were  there  alert 
and  ready.  I  stopped  in  at  the  big  bookshop  where 
English  newspapers  (a  month  old)  were  to  be  pur- 
chased, and  bought  one.  The  Journal  de  Petrograd} 
the  French  morning  paper,  I  found  had  not  been  is- 
sued that  day.  Then  I  strolled  down  the  Nevski.  I 
had  not  gone  far  when  I  heard  rifle  shooting  and 
then  the  sound,  not  to  be  mistaken,  of  machine  gun 
fire.     People  turned  in  their  tracks  and  bolted  for 


26      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

the  side  streets.  I  bolted  too,  and  made  a  record 
dash  for  the  Hotel  d'Europe.  The  firing  went  on 
for  about  an  hour,  and  when  I  ventured  out  again 
it  was  to  see  huge  gray  motor  trucks  laden  with 
armed  men,  rushing  up  and  down  the  streets,  guns 
bristling  from  all  sides  and  machine  guns  fore  and 
aft. 

What  had  happened  was  this.  The  "Red 
Guard,"  an  armed  band  of  workmen  allied  with  the 
Bolsheviki,  together  with  all  the  extremists  who 
could  be  rallied  by  Lenine,  and  these  included  some 
very  young  boys,  had  been  given  arms  and  told  to 
"go  out  in  the  streets."  This  is  a  phrase  that 
usually  means  go  out  and  kill  everything  in  sight. 
In  this  case  the  men  were  assured  that  the  Kron- 
stadt  regiments  would  join  them,  that  cruisers  would 
come  up  the  river  and  the  whole  government  would 
be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Bolsheviki.  The 
Kronstadt  men  did  come  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
surround  and  hold  for  two  days  the  Tauride  Palace, 
where  the  Duma  meets  and  the  provisional  govern- 
ment had  its  headquarters.  The  only  reason  why  the 
bloodshed  was  not  greater  was  that  the  soldiers  in 
the  various  garrisons  around  the  city  refused  to  come 
out  and  fight.  The  sane  members  of  the  Soviet 
had  begged  them  to  remain  in  their  casernes,  and 
they  obeyed.  All  day  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  the 
armed  motor  cars  of  the  Bolsheviki  dashed  from 
barrack  to  barrack  daring  the  soldiers  to  come  out, 
and  whenever  they  found  a  group  of  soldiers  to  fire 
on,  they  fired.  Most  of  these  loyal  soldiers  are 
Cossacks,  and  they  are  hated  by  the  Bolsheviki. 

Tuesday  night  there  was  some  real  fighting,  for 


THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  27 

the  Cossacks  went  to  the  Tauride  Palace  and  freed 
the  besieged  ministers  at  the  cost  of  the  lives  of  a 
dozen  or  more  men.  Then  the  Cossacks  started  out 
to  capture  the  Bolshevik  armored  cars.  When  they 
first  went  out  it  was  with  rifles  only,  which  are  mere 
toy  pistols  against  machine  guns.  After  one  little 
skirmish  I  counted  seventeen  dead  Cossack  horses, 
and  there  were  more  farther  down  the  street.  As 
soon  as  the  Cossacks  were  given  proper  arms  they 
captured  the  armored  trucks  without  much  trouble. 
The  Bolsheviki  threw  away  their  guns  and  fled  like 
rabbits  for  their  holes.  Nevertheless  a  condition 
of  warfare  was  maintained  for  the  better  part  of  a 
week,  and  the  final  burst  of  Bolshevik  activity  gave 
Petrograd,  already  sick  of  bloodshed,  one  more 
night  of  terror.  That  night  I  shall  not  soon  forget. 
The  day  had  been  quiet  and  we  thought  the 
trouble  was  over.  I  went  to  bed  at  half-past  ten 
and  was  in  my  first  sleep  when  a  fusilade  broke  out, 
as  it  seemed,  almost  under  my  window.  I  sat  up  in 
bed,  and  within  a  few  minutes,  the  machine  guns  had 
begun  their  infernal  noise,  like  rattlesnakes  in  the 
prairie  grass.  I  flung  on  a  dressing  gown  and  ran 
down  the  hall  to  a  friend's  room.  She  dressed 
quickly  and  we  went  down  stairs  to  the  room  of 
Mrs.  Emmeline  Pankhurst,  the  English  suffragette, 
which  gave  a  better  view  of  the  square  than  our  own. 
There  until  nearly  morning  we  sat  without  any 
lights,  of  course,  listening  to  repeated  bursts  of  fir- 
ing, and  the  wicked  put-put-put-put  of  the  machine 
guns,  watching  from  behind  window  draperies,  the 
brilliant  headlights  of  armored  motors  rushing  into 
action,  hearing  the  quick  feet  of  men  and  horses  has- 


28      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

tening  from  their  barracks.  We  did  not  go  out. 
All  a  correspondent  can  do  in  the  midst  of  a  fight 
is  to  lie  down  on  the  ground  and  make  himself  as 
flat  as  possible,  unless  he  can  get  into  a  shop  where 
he  hides  under  a  table  or  a  bench.  That  never 
seemed  worth  while  to  me,  and  I  have  no  tales  to 
tell  of  prowess  under  fire. 

I  listened  to  that  night  battle  from  the  safety  of 
the  hotel,  going  the  next  day  to  see  the  damage  done 
by  the  guns.  A  contingent  of  mutinous  soldiers  and 
sailors  from  Kronstadt,  which  had  been  expected  for 
several  days  by  the  Lenineites,  had  come  up  late, 
still  spoiling  for  a  fight;  had  planted  guns  on  the 
street  in  front  of  the  Bourse  and  at  the  head  of  the 
Palace  Bridge  across  the  Neva,  and  simply  mowed 
down  as  many  people  as  were  abroad  at  the  hour. 
Nobody  knows,  except  the  authorities,  how  many 
were  killed,  but  when  we  awoke  the  next  day  we 
discovered  that,  for  a  time  at  least,  the  power  of  the 
Bolsheviki  had  been  broken.  The  next  day  the  mu- 
tinous regiments  were  disbanded  in  disgrace.  Pet- 
rograd  was  put  under  martial  law,  the  streets  were 
guarded  with  armored  cars,  thousands  of  Cossacks 
were  brought  in  to  police  the  place,  and  orders  for 
the  arrest  of  Lenine  and  his  lieutenants  were  issued. 
But  it  was  openly  boasted  by  the  Bolsheviki  that  the 
government  was  afraid  to  touch  Lenine,  and  certain 
it  is  that  he  escaped  into  Sweden,  and  possibly  from 
there  into  Germany. 

I  should  not  like  to  believe  that  the  government 
actually  connived  at  his  escape,  since  there  was 
always  the  menace  of  his  return,  and  the  absolute 
certainty  that  he  would  remain  an  outside  directing 


THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  29 

force  in  the  Bolshevik  campaign.  It  is  more  prob- 
able that  in  the  confusion  of  those  days  of  fighting 
he  was  smuggled  down  the  Neva  in  a  small  yacht 
or  motor  boat  to  the  fortress  of  Kronstadt,  and  from 
there  was  conveyed  across  the  mine  strewn  Baltic 
into  Sweden.  Rumor  had  it  that  he  had  been  seen 
well  on  his  way  to  Germany,  but  it  is  more  likely 
that  his  employers  kept  him  nearer  the  scene  of  his 
activities.  He  was  guilty  of  more  successful  intrigue, 
more  murder  and  violent  death  than  most  of  the  Kai- 
ser's faithful,  and  deserves  an  extra  size  iron  cross, 
if  there  is  such  a  thing.  In  spite  of  all  that  he  has 
done  he  has  thousands  of  adherents  still  in  Russia, 
people  who  believe  that  he  is  "sincere  but  mis- 
guided," to  use  an  overworked  phrase.  The  rest  of 
the  fighting  mob  were  driven  from  their  palace, 
which  they  had  previously  looted  and  robbed  of 
about  twenty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  costly  fur- 
niture, china,  silver  and  art  objects.  They  were 
hunted  out  of  their  rifle  factory,  and  finally  sur- 
rendered to  the  government  after  they  had  captured, 
but  failed  to  hold  the  fortress  of  Peter  and  Paul. 
They  surrendered  but  were  they  arrested  and  pun- 
ished? Not  a  bit  of  it.  They  were  allowed  to  go 
scot  free,  only  being  required  to  give  up  their  arms. 
The  government  existed  only  at  the  will  of  the  mob, 
and  the  mob  would  not  tolerate  the  arrest  of  "Tava- 
rishi.M 


CHAPTER  IV 

AN   HOUR  OF   HOPE 

There  was  an  hour  when  the  sunrise  of  hope 
seemed  to  be  dawning  for  the  Russian  people,  when 
the  madness  of  the  extreme  socialists  seemed  to  be 
curbed,  the  army  situation  in  hand,  and  a  real  gov- 
ernment established.  This  happened  in  late  July, 
and  was  symbolized  in  the  great  public  funeral  given 
eight  Cossack  soldiers  slain  by  the  Bolsheviki  in 
the  July  days  of  riot  and  bloodshed  in  Petrograd. 
I  do  not  know  how  many  Cossacks  were  killed. 
Only  eight  were  publicly  buried.  It  is  entirely  pos- 
sible that  the  government  did  not  wish  the  Bolshe- 
viki to  know  the  full  result  of  their  murder  feast, 
and  for  that  reason  gave  private  burial  to  some  of 
the  dead.  The  public  funeral  served  as  a  tribute  to 
the  loyal  soldiers,  a  warning  to  the  extremists  that 
the  country  stood  back  of  the  war,  and  a  notice  to  all 
concerned  that  the  days  of  revolution  were  over  and 
that  henceforth  the  government  meant  to  govern 
without  the  help  or  interference  of  the  Tavarishi, 
or  comrades  in  the  socialist  ranks.  The  moment 
was  propitious  for  the  government.  The  Council 
of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  was  in  a 
chastened  frame  of  mind,  caused  first  by  the  running 
amuck  of  the  Bolshevik  element,  the  unmasking  and 
flight  of  Lenine,  and  next  by  a  lost  battle  on  the 

30 


AN  HOUR  OF  HOPE  31 

Galician  front,  and  the  disgraceful  desertion  of 
troops  under  fire. 

The  best  elements  in  the  council  supported  the 
new  coalition  ministry,  although  it  did  not  have  a 
Socialist  majority,  and  it  claimed  the  right  to  work 
independently  of  the  council.  The  Cossack  funeral 
was  really  a  government  demonstration,  and  those 
of  us  who  saw  it  believed  for  the  moment  that  it 
marked  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  Russia's 
troubled  progress  toward  democracy  and  freedom. 
The  services  were  held  in  St.  Isaac's  Cathedral,  the 
largest  church  in  Petrograd,  and  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  in  a  country  of  magnificent  churches. 
The  bodies,  in  coffins  covered  with  silver  cloth,  were 
brought  to  the  cathedral  on  a  Friday  afternoon  at  5 
o'clock,  accompanied  by  many  members  of  their  regi- 
ments and  representatives  of  others.  The  flower- 
heaped  coffins  surrounded  by  flaming  candles  filled 
the  space  below  the  holy  gate  leading  to  the  high 
altar;  around  them  knelt  the  soldiers  and  the  weep- 
ing women  relatives  of  the  dead,  while  a  solemn 
service  for  the  repose  of  their  souls  was  chanted. 

In  the  Russian  church  no  organ  or  other  instru- 
mental music  is  permitted,  but  the  singing  is  of  an 
order  of  excellence  quite  unknown  in  other  countries. 
Part  of  a  priest's  education  is  in  music,  and  the  male 
choirs  are  most  carefully  trained  and  conducted. 
They  have  the  highest  tenor  and  the  lowest  bass 
voices  in  the  world  in  those  Russian  church  choirs, 
and  there  is  no  effect  of  the  grandest  pipe  organ 
which  they  cannot  produce.  They  sing  nothing  but 
the  best  music,  and  their  masses  are  written  for  them 
by  the  greatest  of  Russian  composers.     Many  times 


32      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

I  have  thrilled  to  their  singing,  but  at  this  memorial 
service  to  brave  men  slain  in  defense  of  their  coun- 
try I  was  fairly  overwhelmed  by  it.  I  do  not  know 
what  they  sang,  but  it  was  a  solemn,  yet  triumphant 
symphony  of  grief,  religious  ecstasy,  faith  and  long- 
ing. It  soared  to  a  great  climax,  and  it  ended  in  a 
prolonged  phrase  sung  so  softly  that  it  seemed  to 
come  as  from  a  great  distance,  from  Heaven  itself. 
The  whole  vast  congregation  was  on  its  knees,  in 
tears. 

The  service  in  the  cathedral  next  morning  was 
long  and  elaborate,  and  it  was  early  afternoon  be- 
fore the  procession  started  for  the  Alexander 
Nevski  monastery  where  a  common  grave  had  been 
prepared  for  the  murdered  men.  Back  of  the  open 
white  hearses  walked  the  bereaved  women  and  chil- 
dren, bareheaded,  in  simple  peasant  black.  Thou- 
sands of  Cossacks,  also  bareheaded,  many  weeping 
bitterly,  followed.  The  dead  men's  horses  were  led 
by  soldiers.  The  Metropolitan  of  Petrograd  and 
every  other  dignitary  of  the  church  was  in  the  pro- 
cession. I  saw  Miliukoff,  Rodzianko  and  other  celeb- 
rities. Women  of  rank  walked  side  by  side  with 
working  women.  Many  nurses  were  there  in  their 
flowing  white  coifs.  There  were  uncounted  hun- 
dreds of  wreaths  and  floral  offerings.  The  bands 
played  impressive  funeral  marches.  But  there  was 
not  a  single  red  flag  in  the  procession. 

There  was,  of  course,  Kerensky,  and  his  appear- 
ance was  one  of  the  dramatic  events  of  the  day.  I 
watched  the  procession  from  a  hotel  window,  and  I 
saw  just  as  the  hearses  were  passing  a  large  black 
motor  car  winding  its  way  slowly  through  the  crowd 


AN  HOUR  OF  HOPE  33 

that  thronged  the  street.  Just  as  the  last  hearse 
passed  the  door  of  the  car  opened  and  Kerensky 
sprang  out  and  took  his  place  in  the  procession, 
walking  alone  hatless  and  with  bowed  head  after 
the  coffins.  He  was  dressed  in  the  plain  service  uni- 
form of  a  field  officer,  and  his  brown  jacket  was  des- 
titute of  any  decorations.  The  crowd  when  it  saw 
him  went  mad  with  enthusiasm;  forgot  for  a  mo- 
ment the  solemnity  of  the  occasion  and  rushed  for- 
ward to  acclaim  him.     "Kerensky!     Kerensky!'* 

It  was  his  first  appearance  as  premier,  and  prac- 
tically dictator  of  Russia,  and  he  would  not  have 
been  human  if  he  had  not  felt  a  thrill  of  triumph  at 
this  reception.  But  with  a  splendid  gesture  he  waved 
the  crowd  to  silence,  and  bade  them  stand  quietly 
back.  At  first  it  seemed  impossible  to  restrain  them, 
but  the  people  in  the  front  ranks  joined  hands  and 
formed  a  living  chain  that  kept  the  crowds  back,  and 
in  a  few  moments  order  was  restored.  There  was 
something  fine  and  symbolic  about  that  action,  those 
joined  hands  that  stopped  what  might  have  created 
a  panic  and  turned  the  government's  demonstration 
into  a  fiasco.  That  spontaneous  bit  of  social  think- 
ing and  acting  restored  order  better  than  a  police 
force  could  have  done,  and  it  left  in  me  the  convic- 
tion that  whenever  the  Russian  people  join  hands  in 
behalf  of  their  country  they  are  going  to  work  out  a 
splendid  civilization.  If  they  had  only  done  it  after 
that  day !  But  the  new  coalition  ministry,  with  Presi- 
dent Kerensky,  the  popular  idol,  substituted  for 
Lvoff,  who  had  grown  wearied  and  dispirited  by  the 
struggle,  soon  found  itself  facing  the  same  old  sea 
of  troubles  that  had  swamped  the  former  ministries. 


34      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

The  democracy,  created  largely  by  Kerensky,  in 
a  country  which  is  not  yet  ready  for  self-government, 
had  split  up  into  many  anarchistic  groups.  It  had 
become  a  Frankenstein  too  huge  and  too  crazy  with 
power  to  be  handled  by  any  man  less  than  a  Na- 
poleon Bonaparte,  and  Kerensky  is  not  a  Bonaparte. 
Perhaps  he  had  the  brain  of  a  Bonaparte,  as  he  cer- 
tainly had  the  charm  and  magnetism.  It  may  be 
that  he  lacked  the  iron  will  or  the  deathless  courage. 
It  may  only  be  that  his  frail  physical  health  stood 
in  the  way  of  resolution.  Whatever  the  explanation, 
the  fact  remains  that  Kerensky  never  once  was 
able  to  take  that  huge,  disorganized,  uneducated, 
restless,  yearning  Russian  mob  by  the  scruff  of  the 
neck  and  compel  it  to  listen  to  reason.  Apparently, 
also,  he  was  unable  or  unwilling  to  let  any  one  else  do 
it,  as  the  mysterious  Korniloff  incident  seems  to  prove. 
The  story  of  the  disintegration  of  the  Russian  army 
has  been  described  in  many  dispatches.  Later  I  am 
going  to  tell  what  I  saw  of  the  Russian  army,  and 
what  I  know  of  the  demoralization  at  the  front. 
The  state  of  things  was  bad,  but  it  was  by  no  means 
hopeless,  as  it  is  fast  becoming.  That  Rus- 
sian army,  I  confidently  believe,  could,  as  late  as  Au- 
gust, 19 1 7,  have  been  reorganized,  renovated  and 
made  into  an  effective  fighting  force.  It  is  very  evi- 
dent that  it  still  has  possibilities,  because  the  Ger- 
mans still  keep  an  enormous  number  of  troops  on 
the  eastern  front.  They  know  that  the  Russians  can 
fight,  and  they  fear  that  they  will  ^ght,  as  soon  as 
they  are  given  a  real  leader.  Military  leaders  they 
do  not  lack,  as  the  Germans  also  know.  Most  of 
the  old  commanders,  the  worthless,  corrupt  hangers- 


AN  HOUR  OF  HOPE  35 

on  of  the  old  regime,  are  gone  now.  Some  are  dead, 
some  in  prison,  some  relegated  to  obscurity.  The 
men  who  are  left  are  real  soldiers,  good  fighters, 
true  allies  of  America,  France  and  England.  Espe- 
cially is  this  true  of  the  once  feared  and  hated  Cos- 
sack leaders. 

The  Cossack  regiments  to  the  last  man  had  sup- 
ported the  provisional  government,  and  were  whole- 
heartedly in  favor  of  fighting  the  war  to  a  finish. 
There  are  about  five  million  of  these  Cossacks,  and 
practically  every  able-bodied  man  is  a  soldier.  And 
what  a  soldier !  Except  our  own  cowboys,  there 
never  were  such  horsemen.  No  troops  in  the  world 
excel  them  in  bravery  and  fighting  power.  They 
are  a  proud  race  and  would  never  serve  under  offi- 
cers save  those  of  their  own  kind.  I  asked  a  young 
Cossack  at  the  front  where  his  officers  got  their 
training.  He  had  spent  some  ten  years  in  Chicago 
and  spoke  English  like  one  of  our  own  men.  uWe 
train  them  in  the  field,"  he  said  with  a  smile.  "Every 
one  of  us  is  a  potential  officer,  and  when  our  highest 
commander  drops  in  battle,  there  is  always  a  man  to 
take  his  place." 

The  Cossack  has  no  head  for  politics.  He  agrees 
on  the  government  he  is  going  to  support  and  he 
serves  that  government  with  an  undivided  mind. 
When  he  served  the  Czar  he  did  the  Czar's  bidding. 
When  he  decided  to  serve  the  new  democracy  he 
could  be  depended  on  to  do  it.  He  has  done  no  fra- 
ternizing with  wily  Germans  in  the  trenches.  He 
has  listened  to  no  German  propaganda  in  Petrograd. 
He  wants  to  fight  the  war  to  a  successful  end,  and 
then  he  wants  to  go  back  to  his  home  on  the  peaceful 


36      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

Don  river,  or  in  the  wild  Urals  and  cultivate  his 
fields  and  vineyards. 

Of  all  Cossack  leaders  the  most  picturesque  and 
the  most  celebrated  as  a  military  genius  was  Gen. 
Korniloff.  His  life  and  adventures  would  fill  vol- 
umes. He  fought  his  way  up  from  a  penniless 
boyhood  to  a  successful  manhood.  He  knows  Rus- 
sia from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  speaks  almost 
every  dialect  known  to  the  empire,  and  several  for- 
eign languages  in  addition,  especially  those  of  the 
Orient.  He  is  a  small,  wiry  man  with  a  beard,  and 
the  only  time  I  ever  saw  him  he  was  surrounded  by 
a  bodyguard  of  tall  Turkestan  Cossacks  wearing 
long  gray  tunics,  huge  caps  of  Persian  lamb  and  a 
perfectly  beautiful  collection  of  silver-mounted 
swords,  daggers  and  pistols.  In  a  pictorial  sense 
Gen.  Korniloff  was  quite  obscured  by  them. 

Following  a  series  of  disasters  and  wholesale  de- 
sertions at  the  front,  the  late  provisional  govern- 
ment announced  that  the  chief  command  of  the  army 
had  been  given  to  Gen.  Korniloff.  The  command 
was  accepted  with  certain  conditions  attached  to  the 
acceptance.  Gen.  Korniloff  would  not  be  a  com- 
mander in  any  limited  or  modified  sense  of  the  word. 
He  demanded  absolute  power  and  control  over  all 
troops,  both  at  the  front  and  in  the  rear.  He  wanted 
to  abolish  the  committees  of  soldiers  who  admin- 
istered all  regimental  affairs,  and  who  even  decided 
what  commands  the  men  might  or  might  not  obey. 
Gen.  Korniloff  could  never  tolerate  these  bodies. 
Whenever  he  visited  an  army  division  he  asked: 
"Have  your  regiments  any  committees  ?"  And  if  the 
answer  was  yes,  he  immediately  gave  the  order: 


AN  HOUR  OF  HOPE  37 

"Dissolve  them."  One  of  the  principal  demands  made 
by  Gen.  Korniloff  on  the  provisional  government 
was  the  right  to  inflict  the  death  penalty  on  desert- 
ers, both  in  the  field  and  in  the  rear.  I  have  writ- 
ten of  the  thousands  of  idle  soldiers  in  Petrograd, 
and  of  the  expressed  refusal  of  many  of  them  to  go 
to  the  front  when  ordered.  There  was  no  secret 
about  this,  nor  any  concealment  of  the  fact  that  of 
many  thousands  of  soldiers  sent  to  the  front  at  va- 
rious times  since  the  early  spring,  about  two-thirds 
deserted  on  the  way.  They  captured  trains — hos- 
pital trains  in  some  instances — turned  the  passengers 
out,  left  the  wounded  lying  along  the  tracks,  and 
forced  the  trainmen  to  take  them  back  to  Petrograd, 
or  wherever  they  wanted  to  go. 

Kerensky  had  tried  every  means  in  his  power  to 
stop  this  shameful  business.  He  had  fixed  three 
separate  dates  on  which  all  soldiers  must  rejoin  their 
regiments  and  must  obey  orders  to  advance.  He 
had  published  manifestoes  notifying  these  cowards 
and  slackers  that  unless  they  did  report  for  duty 
they  would  be  declared  traitors  to  the  revolution, 
their  families  would  be  deprived  of  all  army  bene- 
fits and  they  would  not  be  allowed  to  share  in  the 
distribution  of  land  when  the  new  agrarian  policy 
went  into  effect.  These  manifestoes  were  absolutely 
ignored.  The  desertions  continued.  Army  disinte- 
gration increased.  Anarchy  pure  and  simple  reigned 
on  all  fronts  and  in  the  rear.  Soldiers  who  were 
willing  to  fight  were  afraid  to,  because  there  was 
every  probability  of  their  own  comrades  shooting 
them  in  the  back  if  they  obeyed  their  officers.  The 
state  of  mind  of  the  officers  can  be  imagined  per- 


38      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

haps — it  cannot  be  described.  Many  committed  sui- 
cide in  the  madness  of  their  shame  and  despair. 

Gen.  Korniloff  wanted  to  deal  with  this  horrible 
situation  in  the  only  possible  way,  by  shooting  all  de- 
serters. This  may  sound  drastic.  No  doubt  it  will 
to  every  copperhead  and  pro-German  in  this  coun- 
try. But  remember,  for  every  man  who  deserts  on 
that  Russian  front  some  American  boy  will  have  to 
suffer.  We  shall  have  to  fight  for  the  Russians,  we 
shall  have  to  pay  the  awful  price  of  their  defection. 
Gen.  Korniloff,  a  true  patriot,  knew  this,  and  he 
wanted  to  save  his  country  from  that  dishonor. 
Kerensky  apparently  could  not  endure  the  thought 
of  those  firing  squads.  Or  else  he  did  not  dare  to 
risk  the  wrath  of  the  soviet.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
he  would  have  courted  great  personal  danger,  it  may 
be  certain  death,  but  what  of  it?  There  is  no  doubt 
that  Gen.  Korniloff,  if  he  saved  the  situation,  would 
loom  larger  as  a  popular  hero  than  Kerensky,  but 
what  of  it?  The  whole  country,  all  of  it  that  re- 
tained its  sanity  and  its  patriotism,  looked  for  Gen. 
Korniloff  to  establish  a  military  dictatorship  in  the 
army.  There  was  never  any  question  of  his  assum- 
ing the  civil  power.  There  was  never  any  indication 
that  he  wanted  it. 

But  there  was  this  question — what  political  party 
in  Russia  was  going  to  dominate  the  constituent  as- 
sembly, that  consummation  which  has  been  post- 
poned many  times,  but  which  cannot  be  indefinitely 
postponed?  The  Social  Revolutionary  party,  of 
which  Kerensky  was  a  member,  seems  to  have  had  a 
clear  majority,  but  there  was  little  organization,  and 
the  Socialists  were  split  up  into  numerous  groups.   In 


AN  HOUR  OF  HOPE  39 

one  city  election  recently  there  were  eighteen  tickets 
in  the  field,  most  of  them  separate  Socialist  parties. 
The  Cossacks,  solidly  lined  up  behind  Korniloff,  an- 
nounced that  in  the  coming  constituent  assembly 
election  they  would  form  a  bloc  with  the  Constitu- 
tional Democrats  and  the  moderate  party  known  as 
the  Cadets,  of  which  Prof.  Paul  Miliukoff  is  the 
leader.  That  bloc  might  dominate  the  constituent 
assembly.  If  it  did  the  Bolshevik  element  in  the 
Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates 
throughout  the  country  would  be  overpowered  and 
discredited.  The  "social  revolution"  which  the 
councils  still  insisted  must  come  out  of  the  political 
revolution  might  be  modified. 

Outside  of  the  secret  conclaves  of  the  provisional 
government,  outside  of  the  inner  circles  of  political 
life  in  Russia,  there  is  no  one  who  knows  the  exact 
truth  of  the  so-called  Korniloff  rebellion.  It  is 
known  that  a  congress  was  held  in  Moscow  in  late 
August,  in  which  Kerensky  made  one  of  his  great 
speeches,  absolutely  capturing  his  audience  and  once 
more  hypnotizing  a  large  public  into  the  belief  that 
he  could  restore  order  in  Russia.  Korniloff  ap- 
peared, and  aroused  great  enthusiasm,  as  he  always 
does.  Everybody  seemed  to  think  that  the  two  lead- 
ers would  get  together  and  agree  on  a  program. 
But  they  did  not  get  together,  and  the  government 
announced  the  "rebellion"  and  disgrace  of  Korniloff. 
Two  more  things  were  announced:  that  the  Bolshe- 
viki  had  gained  a  majority  in  the  Petrograd  Council 
of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates,  and  that  Le- 
nine  was  on  his  way  back  to  Russia  to  address  a 
"democratic  congress,"  which  had  for  its  objects  the 


40      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

abolishment  of  the  Duma  and  the  calling  of  a  par- 
liament chosen  from  its  membership.  Russia's  hour 
of  hope  had  come  and  gone.  When  will  it  come 
again? 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  COMMITTEE  MANIA 

In  writing  a  plain  statement  of  the  condition  of 
anarchy  into  which  Russia  has  fallen,  I  am  very  far 
from  wishing  to  create  a  prejudice  against  the  Rus- 
sian people.  I  don't  want  anybody  to  distrust  or 
scorn  the  Russians.  I  want  the  American  people  to 
understand  their  situation  in  order  that,  through 
sympathy,  patience  and  common  sense,  they  can  find 
some  way  of  helping  them  out  of  the  blind  morass 
that  surrounds  them.  All  the  educated  Russians  I 
have  met  like  Americans  and  trust  them.  They  will 
not  soon  forget  that  the  United  States  was  the  first 
great  power  to  recognize  the  new  government  and 
to  hail  the  revolution.  The  American  ambassador, 
David  R.  Francis,  is  easily  the  most  popular  diplo- 
mat in  Petrograd.  Every  one  knows  him,  and  he 
rarely  appeared  in  a  meeting  or  convention  without 
being  applauded.  Over  and  over  again,  during  my 
three  months'  visit  to  Russia,  I  was  told  that  it  was 
to  America  they  looked  for  help  and  guidance,  and 
after  the  war  they  want  to  enter  into  the  closest  com- 
mercial relations  with  us.  One  business  man  said  to 
me  just  before  I  left:  uTell  your  people  that  we 
will  never  trade  with  Germany  again  unless  the 
Americans  force  us  to  do  so.  If  they  will  supply  us 
with  chemicals,  with  manufactures  and  machinery, 

41 


42      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

we  will  gladly  buy  them.  If  they  will  send  us  ex- 
perts for  our  manufacturing  plants  we  will  be  de- 
lighted to  have  them  instead  of  the  Germans  we 
used  to  employ,  who  never  taught  our  people 
any  of  their  knowledge  because  they  did  not  want 
us  to  develop. " 

The  Russians  want  us  to  help  them  establish  pub- 
lic schools;  to  show  them  how  to  build  and  operate 
great  railroad  systems;  to  farm  scientifically;  to  do 
any  number  of  things  we  have  learned  to  do  well. 
We  mustn't  despise  the  Russians,  we  must  help  them. 
And  we  can't  do  that  unless  we  understand  them. 
Take,  for  example,  the  army  situation.  It  is  very 
bad.  The  mass  of  the  soldiers  are  in  rebellion 
against  all  authority.  But  consider  the  past  history, 
the  very  recent  past  history  of  those  soldiers.  Aside 
from  brutal  personal  treatment  at  the  hands  of  some 
of  the  officers,  they  were  cheated  and  starved  and 
neglected  by  the  bureaucracy  in  Petrograd,  and  then 
again  by  their  commanders  at  the  front.  The  Rus- 
sian soldier's  wants  are  simple  enough.  He  eats  the 
same  food  seven  days  in  the  week  and  rarely  com- 
plains. This  food  consists  of  soup  made  of  salt 
meat  and  cabbage;  kasha,  a  porridge  made  of  buck- 
wheat; black  bread  and  tea.  "Ivan"  wears  coarse 
clothes  and  big,  clumsy  boots,  and  he  has  none  of  the 
small  comforts  we  think  essential  to  the  fighting  man 
in  the  field.  But  slight  as  the  Russian  soldier's 
equipment  is  he  did  not  invariably  get  it  in  the  old 
days.  It  was  stolen  from  him  by  a  band  of  official 
crooks  with  which  the  war  department  and  the  army 
were  honeycombed.  Every  department  of  the  army, 
from  the  commissariat  to  the  Red  Cross,  was  full 


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THE  COMMITTEE  MANIA  43 

of  corruption  and  graft.  The  traffic  in  army  sup- 
plies and  ammunition,  even  in  hospital  supplies,  that 
went  on  constantly  beggars  description.  Gen.  Suk- 
homlinoff,  the  former  minister  of  war,  who  has 
been  tried  and  sentenced  to  life  imprisonment  for 
the  part  he  played  in  this  business,  was  only  one  of 
the  big  thieves.  Under  him  were  myriads  more,  and 
among  them  all  the  soldiers  were  often  stripped  of 
their  overcoats  in  the  dead  of  winter,  and  of  half 
of  their  rations  the  year  round.  When  a  Russian 
soldier  was  badly  wounded  he  might  as  well  have 
been  shot  as  succored.  I  have  seen  these  men,  piti- 
ful wretches,  having  lost  one  or  more  arms  or  legs, 
blind  perhaps,  or  frightfully  disfigured,  begging  in 
the  streets  of  Petrograd.  Clad  in  tattered  uniform, 
pale  and  miserable,  these  poor  soldiers  stand  on  the 
steps  of  the  churches  or  on  street  corners  and  beg 
a  few  kopecks  from  the  passersby.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  pension  for  them,  no  soldiers'  homes. 
They  suffered  for  a  country  that  knew  no  such  thing 
as  gratitude.  Russia  sent  her  men  into  battle  with- 
out sufficient  arms  or  ammunition  with  which  to  fight. 
It  fed  them  to  the  German  guns  without  mercy,  that 
a  band  of  looters  in  the  government  might  buy  sables 
and  bet  on  horse  races.  It  let  them  shiver  and 
freeze  in  shoddy  uniforms  that  army  contractors 
might  grow  rich.  And,  after  they  were  wounded, 
it  let  them  beg  their  bread. 

Small  wonder,  then,  after  the  revolution,  that 
there  was  a  great  popular  demand  for  swift  justice 
for  the  soldiers.  The  provisional  government  an- 
nounced that  henceforth  each  regiment  should  have 
an    elected   committee,    an    executive    body    which 


44      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

should  have  entire  charge  of  regimental  affairs. 
Food,  clothing,  supplies  of  all  kinds,  were  to  pass 
through  the  hands  of  these  committees,  and  they 
were  to  hear  and  pass  on  all  complaints.  The  com- 
mittees were  the  vocal  organs  of  the  army.  For 
the  first  time  in  Russian  history  the  soldier  was  al- 
lowed to  speak.  The  plan  might  have  worked  excel- 
lently had  the  provisional  government  not  made  the 
mistake  of  too  much  zeal  in  democratizing  the  army. 
It  gorged  the  soldiers  with  freedom,  gave  them  such 
heady  doses  of  self-government  that  they  got  drunk 
on  the  idea  and  ran  amuck  like  so  many  crazed  Ma- 
lays. Kerensky  decreed  that  the  soldiers  need  not 
salute  their  officers.  "Well  then,  we  won't,"  they 
said.  "And  just  to  show  how  free  we  are  we  won't 
wash  our  faces,  or  wear  clean  clothes,  or  touch  our 

caps  to  women,  or  stand  up  straight "  and  from 

that  it  was  an  easy  journey  to  "We  won't  take  any 
orders  from  anybody." 

The  government  told  the  soldiers  to  elect  their 
own  officers,  and  they  did,  after  butchering  a  thou- 
sand or  so  of  their  old  ones.  They  elected  them 
wisely  in  some  instances,  but  in  a  great  many  more 
they  did  not.  They  chose  men,  not  for  their  ca- 
pacity to  lead  in  a  military  way,  but  for  their  politi- 
cal views.  In  a  Bolshevik  regiment  the  best  Bol- 
sheviki  were  elected.  If  there  was  a  Minshevik  ma- 
jority the  new  officers  were  pretty  sure  to  be  Min- 
sheviki.  And  after  they  were  elected  nobody  re- 
spected them,  nor  did  they  dare  give  orders.  But 
of  all  the  madness  that  took  possession  of  the  "free" 
soldiers,  the  committee  madness  went  farthest.  The 
Russians  love  to  talk.    To  make  speeches,  to  heckle 


THE  COMMITTEE  MANIA  45 

and  be  heckled  is  the  joy  of  their  lives.  The  com- 
mittee gave  them  a  new  chance  to  talk,  and  they  got 
the  habit  of  calling  a  committee  meeting  on  every 
conceivable  occasion.  Petrograd  heard  with  hor- 
ror last  summer  that  the  men  in  the  trenches,  when 
ordered  to  advance,  actually  called  meetings  to  dis- 
cuss the  orders  and  to  vote  whether  or  not  they  were 
to  be  followed.  They  did  this  at  times  when  the 
Germans  were  at  the  very  gates  of  an  important 
strategic  point. 

Even  in  the  hospitals  it  got  so  that  the  doctors 
and  the  nurses  were  without  authority.  If  a  man 
was  ordered  to  take  a  pill  he  wanted  to  call  a  com- 
mittee meeting  to  discuss  the  thing.  It  is  an  actual 
fact  that  men  refused  to  take  treatment  or  un- 
dergo operations  until  they  had  consulted  the  Tava- 
rishi  about  it.  From  that  to  refusing  to  obey  any 
orders  is  a  short  step,  and  Red  Cross  nurses  have 
told  me  some  fantastic  stories  about  life  in  Russian 
lazarets.  Some  wounded  men  refused  to  take  their 
clothes  off  and  insisted  on  wearing  them,  boots  and 
all,  to  bed.  Others  refused  to  go  to  bed  at  night,  pre- 
ferring to  snooze  during  the  day  and  wander  around 
in  pajamas  and  dressing  gowns  at  night.  Some  in- 
sisted on  being  discharged  before  they  should  be, 
while  others,  on  being  discharged,  declined  to  go. 

They  were  not  like  that  in  all  hospitals,  of  course. 
Ivan  is  a  great  child,  and  very  often  he  is  a  stupid 
and  an  unruly  child.  But  often  he  is  good,  espe- 
cially when  he  is  sick  and  suffering  and  in  need  of 
women's  care  and  kindness.  I  don't  want  to  de- 
scribe the  bad  hospital  conditions  without  admitting 
that  they  have  the  other  kind,  too,  in  Russia.     I  re- 


46      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

member  seeing  at  the  corner  of  a  street  below  a  big 
lazaret  in  Petrograd  a  dozen  discharged  wounded 
men  and  a  group  of  nurses  and  orderlies.  They 
were  waiting  for  the  tram  which  was  to  carry  the 
men  to  the  railroad  station.  Some  still  wore  band- 
ages, some  were  on  crutches,  some  walked  with  the 
aid  of  sticks.  Two  were  blind.  But  all  were  wildly 
happy  at  the  prospect  of  going  home  to  the  old  vil- 
lage. The  nurses  and  orderlies  shared  in  the  ex- 
citement. Some  of  them  were  going  to  the  station, 
and  had  their  arms  full  of  bundles,  clothes,  food 
and  souvenirs  of  battle.  One  nurse  carried  a  com- 
petent looking  cork  leg,  the  future  prop  of  a  pale 
young  fellow  on  crutches.  The  car  swung  around 
the  corner,  full  of  passengers,  idle  soldiers  mostly, 
but  even  they,  at  the  command  of  the  energetic  sister, 
vacated  their  seats  for  the  invalids.  They  climbed 
aboard,  and  those  who  were  most  helpless  were 
lifted.  The  cork  leg  was  handed  in  through  an  open 
window  and  delivered  to  one  of  the  more  able-bodied 
men.  There  had  been  plenty  of  time  for  farewells 
before,  but  parting  was  difficult,  and  for  five  minutes 
after  boarding  the  car  the  men  continued  to  shake 
hands  with  the  nurses,  to  shout  last  messages,  and  to 
kiss  their  hands  to  those  on  the  sidewalk.  The 
nurses  patted  their  charges'  arms  and  shoulders,  and 
called  anxious  admonitions.  "Take  care  of  that  leg, 
Ivan  Feodorovitch.  You  know  how  to  bandage  it. 
Don't  try  to  walk  too  much,  and  keep  out  of  the 
sun."  You  didn't  have  to  know  a  word  of  Russian 
to  understand  what  those  nurses  were  saying. 

The  street  car  conductor  wrung  her  hands  and 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  go  on.    The  time  schedule 


THE  COMMITTEE  MANIA  47 

had  to  be  observed.  "Please,  sister,  please,"  she  en- 
treated, and  at  last  she  was  permitted  to  ring  the 
bell  and  send  her  car  forward.  As  it  turned  the 
corner  the  men  were  still  waving  and  laughing  and 
wiping  the  tears  from  their  cheeks.  I  don't  believe 
those  men  had  called  any  committee  meetings  before 
obeying  their  nurses,  or  ever  reminded  the  doctors 
that  it  was  a  free  country  now  and  they  could  take 
medicine  or  not  as  they  pleased. 

You  certainly  got  tired  of  that  overworked  phrase 
"It's  a  free  country  now."  You  hear  it  on  all  sides 
in  Russia.  "It's  a  free  country,"  says  a  man  with 
a  third-class  ticket  taking  possession  of  a  first-class 
compartment.  "It's  a  free  country,"  declares  a  sol- 
dier, tossing  a  handful  of  sunflower  seed  shells  on  a 
woman's  white  shoes  in  a  street  car.  "It's  a  free 
country,"  say  a  group  of  men,  stripping  off  their 
clothes  before  a  crowd  of  women  and  children  and 
taking  a  bath  in  the  Neva.  This  occurs  frequently 
on  the  Admiralty  quay,  a  great  pleasure  resort  in 
Petrograd. 

"They  called  them  Sans  Culottes  during  the 
French  Revolution,"  said  a  clever  woman  writer  in 
one  of  the  newspapers.  "Our  men  will  go  down  to 
fame  as  Sans  Calegons.  The  difference,  perhaps,  be- 
tween a  political  and  a  social  revolution."  The  first 
French  phrase  means  without  trousers.  The  second 
carries  the  denuding  process  to  its  concluding  stage. 

In  this  kind  of  a  free  country  nobody  is  free.  Try 
to  imagine  how  it  would  be  in  Washington,  in  the 
office  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  let  us  say,  if 
a  committee  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
should  walk  in  and  say:    "We  have  come  to  control 


48      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

you.  Produce  your  books  and  all  your  confidential 
papers."  This  is  what  happens  to  cabinet  ministers 
in  Russia,  and  will  continue  until  they  succeed  in 
forming  a  government  responsible  only  to  the  elec- 
torate, and  not  a  slave  to  the  Council  of  Workmen's 
and  Soldiers'  Delegates.  Of  course,"  the  simile  is 
grossly  unfair  to  the  American  Federation  of  La- 
bor. Our  organized  labor  men  are  the  most  intelli- 
gent working  people  in  the  community,  and  most  of 
them  have  had  a  long  experience  in  citizenship. 
Above  all,  their  loyalty,  as  a  body,  has  been  amply 
demonstrated.  The  Council  of  Workmen's  and  Sol- 
diers' Delegates  has  among  its  members  loyal,  hon- 
est, intelligent  men  and  women.  But  it  has  also  a 
number  of  extreme  radicals,  people  who  would  dis- 
honor the  country  by  concluding  a  separate  peace 
with  Germany,  and  who  care  nothing  for  the  inter- 
ests of  any  group  except  their  own.  Nobody  in 
Russia  has  very  much  experience  in  citizenship,  and 
the  working  people  have  less  than  others.  Yet  the 
soviet,  to  give  the  council  its  local  name,  deems  it- 
self quite  capable  of  passing  on  all  affairs  of  state, 
not  only  in  Russia  but  in  the  allied  countries  as  well. 
The  Soviets  have  had  the  presumption  to  announce 
that  they  are  going  to  name  the  peace  terms,  al- 
though Russia  has  virtually  ceased  to  fight.  "No 
annexations  or  contributions,"  is  the  formula,  very 
evidently  made  in  Germany.  I  am  sure  that  not  one 
in  a  thousand  knows  what  this  means. 

"Have  you  ever  thought,"  I  asked  a  member  of 
the  Petrograd  council,  "what  your  program  would 
mean  to  the  working  people  of  Belgium?  Don't 
you  think  that  the  farmers  and  artisans  of  northern 


THE  COMMITTEE  MANIA  49 

France  are  entitled  to  compensation  for  their  ruined 
homes  and  blasted  lives?" 

"Yes,  but  not  from  Germany,"  was  the  astound- 
ing reply.     "All  countries  should  contribute." 

"If  I  were  a  cashier  in  a  bank  and  stole  a  million 
dollars  of  the  depositors'  money,  do  you  think  I 
ought  to  be  made  to  pay  it  back,  or  should  all  the 
employes  be  taxed?"  To  this  question  I  got  no 
answer.    There  isn't  any  answer. 

In  all  this  confusion  of  mind,  this  whirlwind  of 
ideas  and  theories,  are  there  no  Russians  who  can 
think  clearly?  Are  there  no  brave  and  courageous 
people  left  in  Russia?  None  who  realize  the  ruin 
and  desolation  which  is  being  prepared  for  them? 
There  are.  Russia  has  its  submerged  minority  of 
thinkers.  It  has  at  least  two  fighting  elements  which 
are  ready  to  die  to  restore  peace,  order  and  bright 
honor  to  their  distracted  land.  These  two  elements 
are  the  Cossacks  and  the  women. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  WOMAN  WITH  THE  GUN 

The  women  soldiers  of  Russia,  the  most  amazing 
development  of  the  revolution,  if  not  of  the  world 
war  itself,  I  am  disposed  to  believe,  will,  with  the  Cos- 
sacks, prove  to  be  the  element  needed  to  lead,  if  it 
can  be  led,  the  disorganized  and  demoralized  Rus- 
sian army  back  to  its  duty  on  the  firing  line.  It  was 
with  the  object,  the  hope,  of  leading  them  back  that 
the  women  took  up  arms.  Whatever  else  you  may 
have  heard  about  them  this  is  the  truth.  I  know 
those  women  soldiers  very  well.  I  know  them  in 
three  regiments,  one  in  Moscow  and  two  in  Petro- 
grad,  and  I  went  with  one  regiment  as  near  to  the 
fighting  line  as  I  was  permitted.  I  traveled  from 
Petrograd  to  a  military  position  "somewhere  in  Po- 
land" with  the  famous  Botchkareva  Battalion  of 
Death.  I  left  Petrograd  in  the  troop  train  with  the 
women.  I  marched  with  them  when  they  left  the 
train.  I  lived  with  them  for  nine  days  in  their  bar- 
rack, around  which  thousands  of  men  soldiers  were 
encamped.  I  shared  Botchkareva's  soup  and  kasha, 
and  drank  hot  tea  out  of  her  other  tin  cup.  I  slept 
beside  her  on  the  plank  bed.  I  saw  her  and  her 
women  off  to  the  firing  line,  and  after  the  battle  into 
which  they  led  reluctant  men,  I  sat  beside  their  hos- 
pital beds  and  heard  their  own  stories  of  the  fight. 

50 


THE  WOMAN  WITH  THE  GUN  51 

I  want  to  say  right  here  that  a  country  that  can  pro- 
duce such  women  cannot  possibly  be  crushed  forever. 
It  may  take  time  for  it  to  recover  its  present  debauch 
of  anarchism,  but  recover  it  surely  will.  And  when 
it  does  it  will  know  how  to  honor  the  women  who 
went  out  to  hght  when  the  men  ran  home. 

The  Battalion  of  Death  is  not  the  name  of  one 
regiment,  nor  is  it  used  exclusively  to  designate  the 
women's  battalions.  It  is  a  sort  of  order  which  has 
spread  through  many  regiments  since  the  demorali- 
zation began,  and  signifies  that  its  members  are  loyal 
and  mean  to  fight  to  the  death  for  Russia.  Some- 
times an  entire  regiment  assumes  the  red  and  black 
ribbon  arrowhead  which,  sewed  on  the  right  sleeve 
of  the  blouse,  marks  the  order.  Regiments  have 
been  made  up  of  volunteers  who  are  ready  to  wear 
the  insignia.  Such  a  regiment  is  the  Battalion  of 
Death  commanded  by  Mareea  Botchkareva  (the 
spelling  is  phonetic),  the  extraordinary  peasant 
woman  who  has  risen  to  be  a  commissioned  officer  in 
the  Russian  army. 

Botchkareva  comes  from  a  village  near  the  Siber- 
ian border  and  is,  I  should  judge,  about  thirty  years 
old.  She  was  one  of  a  large  family  of  children,  and 
the  family  was  very  poor.  They  had  a  harder  time 
than  ever  after  the  father  returned  from  the  Japa- 
nese war  minus  one  foot,  but  that  did  not  prevent 
their  number  from  increasing,  and  merely  made  the 
lot  of  Mareea,  the  oldest  girl,  a  little  more  miser- 
able. She  married  young,  fortunately  a  man  with 
whom  she  was  very  happy.  He  was  the  village 
butcher  and  she  helped  him  in  the  shop,  as  they  had 
no  children.    When  the  war  broke  out  in  July,  19 14, 


52       INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

Mareea's  husband  marched  away  with  the  rest  of 
the  quota  from  their  village,  and  she  never  saw 
him  again.  He  was  killed  in  one  of  the  first  battles 
of  the  war,  and  the  only  time  I  ever  saw  Botch- 
kareva  break  down  was  when  she  told  me  how  she 
waited  long  months  for  the  letter  he  had  promised 
to  write  her,  and  how  at  last  a  wounded  comrade 
hobbled  back  to  the  village  and  told  her  that  the 
letter  would  never  come.  He  was  dead — out  there 
somewhere — and  they  had  not  even  notified  her. 

"The  soldiers  have  it  hard,"  she  said,  when  her 
brief  storm  of  tears  was  over,  "but  not  so  hard  as 
the  women  at  home.  The  soldier  has  a  gun  to  fight 
death  with.    The  women  have  nothing." 

For  months  Mareea  Botchkareva  watched  the 
sufferings  of  the  women  and  children  of  her  village 
grow  worse  and  worse.  Winter  killed  some  of 
them,  winter  and  an  unwonted  scarcity  of  food. 
Typhus  came  along  and  killed  more.  The  village 
forgot  that  it  had  ever  danced  and  sung  and  was 
happy.  Every  family  was  in  mourning  for  its  dead. 
Mareea  decided  that  she  could  not  endure  it  to  sit 
in  her  empty  hut  and  wait  for  death.  She  would  go 
out  and  meet  it  in  the  easier  fashion  permitted  to 
men.  That  was  the  way,  she  explained  to  me,  she 
joined  the  regiment  of  Siberian  troops  encamped 
near  the  village.  The  men  did  not  want  her,  but 
she  sought  and  got  permission,  and  when  the  regi- 
ment went  to  the  front  she  went  along  too. 

She  fought  in  campaigns  on  several  fronts,  earned 
medals  and  finally  the  coveted  cross  of  St.  George 
for  valor  under  fire.  She  was  three  times  wounded, 
the  last  time  in  the  autumn  of  191 6,  so  badly  that 


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THE  WOMAN  WITH  THE  GUN  53 

she  lay  in  hospital  for  four  months.  She  got  back 
to  her  regiment,  where  she  was  now  popular,  and  I 
imagine  something  of  a  leader,  just  before  the  revo- 
lution of  February,   19 17. 

Botchkareva  was  an  ardent  revolutionist,  and  her 
regiment  was  one  of  the  first  to  go  over  to  the  peo- 
ple's side.  Her  consternation  and  despair  were 
great  when,  shortly  after  the  emancipation  from 
czardom,  great  masses  of  the  people,  and  especially 
the  soldiers  at  the  front,  began  to  demonstrate  by 
riots  and  desertions  how  little  they  were  ready  for 
freedom.  The  men  of  her  regiment  deserted  in 
numbers,  and  she  went  to  members  of  the  Duma 
who  were  going  up  and  down  the  front  trying  to 
stay  the  tide,  and  said  to  them:  "Give  me  leave  to 
raise  a  regiment  of  women.  We  will  go  wherever 
men  refuse  to  go.  We  will  fight  when  they  run. 
The  women  will  lead  the  men  back  to  the  trenches." 
This  is  the  history  of  Botchkareva's  Battalion  of 
Death,  or  rather  of  how  it  came  to  be  organized. 
The  Russian  war  ministry  gave  her  leave  to  recruit 
the  women,  gave  her  a  barrack  in  a  former  school 
building,  and  promised  her  equipment  and  a  place  at 
the  front.  Many  women  in  Petrograd,  women  of 
wealth  and  social  position,  took  fire  with  the  idea, 
raised  money  for  the  regiment,  helped  in  the  re- 
cruiting, some  of  them  joining. 

In  an  odd  copy  of  an  American  newspaper  that 
reached  me  in  Russia  I  read  a  paragraph  stating 
that  the  schoolgirls  of  Petrograd  were  forming  a 
regiment  under  a  man  named  Butchkareff,  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  army.  I  don't  know  who  sent  out  that 
piece  of  news,  but  it  lacked  most  of  the  facts.    The 


54      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

women  soldiers  are  not  schoolgirls,  and  Botchka- 
reva's  battalion  has  no  men  officers.  Three  drill  ser- 
geants, St.  George  cross  men  all  of  them,  did  assist 
in  the  training  of  the  battalion  while  it  remained  in 
Petrograd.  Other  men  drilled  it  behind  the  lines, 
but  Botchkareva,  and  another  remarkable  woman, 
Marie  Skridlova,  her  adjutant,  commanded  and  led 
it  in  battle. 

Marie  Skridlova  is  the  daughter  of  Admiral 
Skridloff,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the 
Russian  navy.  She  is  about  twenty,  very  attractive 
if  not  actually  beautiful,  and  is  an  accomplished  mu- 
sician. Her  life  up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  was 
that  of  an  ordinary  girl  of  the  Russian  aristocracy. 
She  was  educated  abroad,  taught  several  languages, 
and  expected  to  have  a  career  no  more  exciting  or 
adventurous  than  that  of  any  other  woman  of  her 
class.  When  the  war  broke  out  she  went  into  the 
Red  Cross,  took  the  nurses'  training  and  served  in 
hospitals  both  at  the  front  and  in  Petrograd.  Then 
came  the  revolution.  She  was  working  in  a  marine 
hospital  in  the  capital.  She  saw  many  of  the  hor- 
rors of  those  February  days.  She  saw  her  own 
father  set  upon  by  soldiers  in  the  streets,  and  rescued 
from  death  only  because  some  of  his  own  marines 
who  loved  him  insisted  that  this  one  officer  was  not 
to  be  killed. 

Into  the  ward  of  the  hospital  where  she  was  sta- 
tioned there  was  borne  an  old  general,  desperately 
wounded  by  a  street  mob.  He  had  to  be  operated 
on  at  once  to  save  his  life,  and  as  he  was  carried 
from  the  operating  room  to  a  private  ward  the  men 
in   the   beds   sat  up   and  yelled,   "Kill  him!      Kill 


THE  WOMAN  WITH  THE  GUN  55 

him !"  It  is  unlikely  that  they  knew  who  he  was,  but 
it  was  death  to  all  officers  in  those  days  of  madness 
and  frenzy.  Half  unconscious  from  loss  of  blood, 
still  under  the  spell  of  the  ether,  the  old  man  clung 
to  his  nurse  as  a  child  to  his  mother.  "You  won't 
let  them  kill  me,  will  you?"  he  murmured.  And 
Mile.  Skridlova  assured  him  that  she  would  take 
care  of  him,  that  he  was  safe. 

The  door  opened  and  a  white  faced  doctor  rushed 
into  the  room.  "Sister,"  he  gasped,  "go  for  that 
medicine — go  quickly."  Not  comprehending  she 
asked,  "What  medicine?"  But  he  only  pushed  her 
towards  the  door.     "Go,  go!"  he  repeated. 

She  left  the  room,  and  then  she  saw  and  under- 
stood. Down  the  corridor  a  mob  was  streaming,  a 
wild,  unkempt,  blood-thirsty  mob,  the  sweepings  of 
the  streets  and  barracks.  Quickly  she  threw  herself 
across  the  door  of  the  old  general's  room.  "Get 
back,"  she  commanded.  "The  man  in  that  room  is 
old  and  wounded  and  helpless.  He  is  in  my  care, 
and  if  you  harm  him  it  must  be  over  my  body." 

Incredible  as  it  seems  this  girl  of  twenty  was  able 
for  forty  minutes  to  hold  the  mob  at  bay.  When 
guns  were  pointed  at  her  she  told  the  men  to  fire 
through  the  red  cross  that  covered  her  heart.  They 
did  not  shoot,  but  some  of  the  most  brutal  struck 
her  down,  and  then  held  her  helpless  while  others 
rushed  into  the  room  and  hacked  and  beat  the  old 
man  to  death.  When  the  nurse  fought  her  way  to 
his  side  he  was  breathing  his  last.  She  had  time  to 
whisper  a  prayer,  and  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross 
above  his  glazing  eyes.  Then  she  went  home,  took 
off  her  Red  Cross  uniform,  and  said  to  her  father: 


56       INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

"Women  have  something  more  to  do  for  Russia 
than  binding  men's  wounds." 

When  Botchkareva's  Battalion  of  Death  was 
formed  Marie  Skridlova  determined  to  join  it.  Ad- 
miral Skridloff,  veteran  of  two  wars,  iron  old  patriot, 
went  with  her  to  the  women's  barracks  and  with  his 
own  hand  enrolled  her  in  the  Russian  army  service. 
In  the  regiment  of  which  this  girl  was  adjutant  I 
found  six  Red  Cross  nurses  who  were  through  with 
nursing  and  had  gone  out  to  die  for  their  unhappy- 
country.  There  was  a  woman  doctor  who  had  seen 
service  in  base  hospitals.  There  were  clerks  and 
office  women,  factory  girls,  servants,  farm  women. 
Ten  women  had  fought  in  men's  regiments.  Every 
woman  had  her  own  story.  I  did  not  hear  them  all, 
but  I  heard  many,  each  one  a  simple  chronicle  of  suf- 
fering or  bereavement,  or  shame  over  Russia's  plight. 

There  was  one  girl  of  nineteen,  a  Cossack,  a 
pretty,  dark-eyed  young  thing,  left  absolutely  adrift 
after  the  death  in  battle  of  her  father  and  two  broth- 
ers, and  the  still  more  tragic  death  of  her  mother 
when  the  Germans  shelled  the  hospital  where  she 
was  nursing.  To  her  a  place  in  Botchkareva's  regi- 
ment and  a  gun  with  which  to  defend  herself  spelled 
safety. 

"What  was  there  left  for  me?"  sighed  a  big 
Esthonian  woman,  showing  me  a  photograph  she 
wore  constantly  on  her  heart.  It  was  a  photograph 
of  a  lovely  child  of  five  years.  "He  died  of  want," 
said  the  woman  briefly.  "His  father  is  a  prisoner 
somewhere  in  Austria." 

There  was  a  Japanese  girl  in  the  regiment,  and 
when  I  asked  her  her  reason  for  joining  she  smiled, 


THE  WOMAN  WITH  THE  GUN  57 

and  in  the  evenly  polite  tone  that  marks  her  race, 
replied:  "There  were  so  many  reasons  that  I  pre- 
fer not  to  tell  any  of  them."  One  twilight  I  came  on 
this  girl  sitting  outside  with  the  little  Polish  Jewess 
with  whom  she  bunked.  The  two  sat  perfectly  mo- 
tionless on  a  fallen  tree,  watching  a  group  of  sol- 
diers gathered  around  a  fire.  In  their  silent  gaze  I 
read  a  malevolence,  a  reminiscence  so  full  of  concen- 
trated loathing  that  I  turned  away  with  a  shudder. 
I  never  asked  another  woman  her  reason  for  joining 
the  regiment.  I  was  afraid  it  might  be  more  per- 
sonal than  patriotic. 

I  do  not  believe,  however,  that  this  was  the  case 
with  the  majority.  Mostly  the  women  were  in 
arms  because  they  feared  and  dreaded  the  further 
demoralization  of  the  troops,  and  they  believed  fer- 
vently that  they  could  rally  their  men  to  fight. 
"Our  men,"  they  said,  "are  suffering  from  a  sickness 
of  the  soul.  It  is  our  duty  to  lead  them  back  to 
health."  Every  woman  in  the  regiment  had  seen 
war  face  to  face,  had  suffered  bitterly  through  war, 
and  finally  had  seen  their  men  fail  in  the  fight.  They 
had  beheld  their  men  desert  in  time  of  war,  the  most 
dishonorable  thing  men  can  do,  and  they  said,  "Well 
then,  there  is  nothing  left  except  for  us  to  go  in  their 
places." 

Did  the  world  ever  witness  a  more  sublime  hero- 
ism than  that?  Women,  in  the  long  years  which 
history  has  recorded,  have  done  everything  for  men 
that  they  were  called  upon  to  do.  It  remained  for 
Russian  men,  in  the  twentieth  century,  to  call  upon 
women  to  fight  and  die  for  them.  And  the  women 
did  it. 


CHAPTER  VII 

TO  THE  FRONT  WITH  BOTCHKAREVA 

Women  of  all  ranks  rushed  to  enlist  in  the  Botch- 
kareva  battalion.  There  were  many  peasant  women, 
factory  workers,  servants  and  also  a  number  of 
women  of  education  and  social  prominence.  Six 
Red  Cross  nurses  were  among  the  number,  one  doc- 
tor, a  lawyer,  several  clerks  and  stenographers  and 
a  few  like  Marie  Skridlova  who  had  never  done  any 
except  war  work.  If  the  working  women  predom- 
inated I  believe  it  was  because  they  were  the  stronger 
physically.  Botchkareva  would  accept  only  the  stur- 
diest, and  her  soldiers,  even  when  they  were  slight 
of  figure,  were  all  fine  physical  specimens.  The 
women  were  outfitted  and  equipped  exactly  like  the 
men  soldiers.  They  wore  the  same  kind  of  khaki 
trousers,  loose-belted  blouse  and  high  peaked  cap. 
They  wore  the  same  high  boots,  carried  the  same 
arms  and  the  same  camp  equipment,  including  gas 
masks,  trench  spades  and  other  paraphernalia.  In 
spite  of  their  tightly  shaved  heads  they  presented  a 
very  attractive  appearance,  like  nice,  clean,  upstand- 
ing boys.  They  were  very  strictly  drilled  and  dis- 
ciplined and  there  was  no  omission  of  saluting  offi- 
cers in  that  regiment. 

The  battalion  left  Petrograd  for  an  unknown  des- 

58 


TO  THE  FRONT  WITH  BOTCHKAREVA      59 

tination  on  July  6  in  our  calendar.  In  the  afternoon 
the  women  marched  to  the  Kazan  Cathedral,  where 
a  touching  ceremony  of  farewell  and  blessing  took 
place.  A  cold,  fine  rain  was  falling,  but  the  great 
half  circle  before  the  cathedral,  as  well  as  the  long 
curved  colonnades,  were  filled  with  people.  Thou- 
sands of  women  were  there  carrying  flowers,  and 
nurses  moved  through  the  crowds  collecting  money 
for  the  regiment. 

I  passed  a  very  uneasy  day  that  July  6.  I  was 
afraid  of  what  might  happen  to  some  of  the  women 
through  the  malignancy  of  the  Bolsheviki,  and  I  was 
mortally  afraid  that  I  was  not  going  to  be  allowed  to 
get  on  their  troop  train.  I  had  made  the  usual  ap- 
plication to  the  War  Ministry  to  be  allowed  to  visit 
the  front,  but  I  did  not  follow  up  the  application 
with  a  personal  visit,  and  therefore  when  I  dropped 
in  for  a  morning  call  I  was  dismayed  to  find  the  bar- 
rack in  a  turmoil,  and  to  hear  the  exultant  announce- 
ment, "We're  going  this  evening  at  eight." 

It  was  an  unseasonal  day  of  rain,  and  I  spent  reck- 
less sums  in  droshky  hire,  rushing  hither  and  yon  in  a 
fruitless  effort  to  wring  emergency  permits  from  elu- 
sive officials  who  never  in  their  lives  had  been  called 
upon  to  do  anything  in  a  hurry,  or  even  to  keep  con- 
ventional office  hours.  Needless  to  say  I  found  no- 
body at  all  on  duty  where  he  should  have  been  that 
day.  Even  at  the  American  Embassy,  where,  empty- 
handed  and  discouraged,  I  wound  up  late  in  the  af- 
ternoon, I  found  the  entire  staff  absent  in  attendance 
on  a  visiting  commission  from  home.  The  one  help- 
ful person  who  happened  to  be  at  the  Embassy  was 
Arno  Dosch-Fleurot  of  the  New  York  World.     "If 


60      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

I  were  you,"  he  said,  "I  wouldn't  worry  about  a  per- 
mit. I'd  just  get  on  the  train — if  I  could  get  on — 
and  I'd  stay  until  they  put  me  off,  or  until  I  got 
where  I  wanted  to  go.  Of  course  they  may  arrest 
you  for  a  spy.  In  any  other  country  they'd  be  pretty 
sure  to.  But  in  Russia  you  never  can  tell.  Shepherd, 
of  the  United  Press,  once  went  all  over  the  front 
with  nothing  to  show  but  some  worthless  mining 
stock.    Why  not  try  it?" 

I  said  I  would,  and  before  eight  that  evening  I 
was  at  the  Warsaw  Station,  unwillingly  participating 
in  what  might  be  called  the  regiment's  first  hostile 
engagement.  For  at  least  two  thirds  of  the  mob 
that  filled  the  station  were  members  of  the  Lenine 
faction  of  Bolsheviki,  sent  there  to  break  up  the 
orderly  march  of  the  women,  and  even  if  possible  to 
prevent  them  from  entraining  at  all.  From  the  first 
these  spy-led  emissaries  of  the  German  Kaiser  had 
sworn  enmity  to  Botchkareva's  battalion.  Well 
knowing  the  moral  effect  of  women  taking  the  places 
of  deserting  soldiers  in  the  trenches,  the  Lenineites 
had  exhausted  every  effort  to  breed  dissension  in 
the  ranks,  and  at  the  last  moment  they  had  stormed 
the  station  in  the  hope  of  creating  an  intolerable  situ- 
ation. In  the  absence  of  anything  like  a  police  force 
they  did  succeed  in  making  things  painful  and  even  a 
little  dangerous  for  the  soldiers  and  for  the  tearful 
mothers  and  sisters  who  had  gathered  to  bid  them 
good-by.  But  the  women  kept  perfect  discipline 
through  it  all,  and  slowly  fought  their  way  through 
the  mob  to  the  train  platform. 

As   for  me,    a  mixture   of   indignation,   healthy 
muscle  and  rare  good  luck  carried  me  through  and 


TO  THE  FRONT  WITH  BOTCHKAREVA      61 

landed  me  in  a  somewhat  battered  condition  next  to 
Adjutant  Skridlova.  "You  got  your  permit,"  she 
exclaimed  on  seeing  me.  "I  am  so  pleased.  Stay 
close  to  me  and  I'll  see  you  safely  on." 

Mendaciously  perhaps,  I  answered  nothing  at  all, 
but  stayed,  and  every  time  a  perspiring  train  official 
grabbed  me  by  the  arm  and  told  me  to  stand  back 
Skridlova  rescued  me  and  informed  the  man  that  I 
had  permission  to  go.  At  the  very  last  I  had  a  bad 
moment,  for  one  especially  inquisitive  official  asked 
to  see  the  permission.  This  time  it  was  the  Nachal- 
nik,  Botchkareva  herself,  who  came  to  the  rescue. 
Characteristically  she  wasted  no  words,  but  merely 
pushed  the  man  aside,  thrust  me  into  her  own  com- 
partment and  ordered  me  to  lock  the  door.  Within 
a  few  minutes  she  joined  me,  the  train  began  to  move 
and  we  were  off.  That  was  the  end  of  my  troubles, 
for  no  one  afterwards  questioned  my  right  to  be 
there.  At  the  Adjutant's  suggestion  I  parted  with 
my  New  York  hat  and  early  in  the  journey  substi- 
tuted the  white  linen  coif  of  a  Red  Cross  nurse.  Thus 
attired  I  was  accepted  by  all  concerned  as  a  part 
of  the  camp  equipment. 

The  troop  train  consisted  of  one  second  class  and 
five  fourth  class  carriages,  the  first  one,  except  for 
one  compartment  reserved  for  officers,  being  practi- 
cally filled  with  camp  and  hospital  supplies.  In  the 
other  carriages,  primitive  affairs  furnished  with  three 
tiers  of  wooden  bunks,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  regi- 
ment traveled.  I  had  a  place  in  the  second  class 
compartment  with  the  Nachalnik,  the  Adjutant  and 
the  standard  bearer,  a  big,  silent  peasant  girl  called 
Orlova.     Our  luxury  consisted  of  cushioned  shelves 


62      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

without  bedding  or  blankets,  which  served  as  seats 
by  day  and  beds  by  night.  We  had,  of  course,  a 
little  more  privacy  than  the  others,  but  that  was  all. 
As  for  food,  we  all  fared  alike,  and  we  fared  well, 
friends  of  the  regiment  having  loaded  the  train 
with  bread,  butter,  fruit,  canned  things,  cakes,  choco- 
late and  other  delicacies.  Tea-making  materials  we 
had  also,  and  plenty  of  sugar.  So  filled  was  our 
compartment  with  food,  flowers,  banners,  guns,  tea 
kettles  and  miscellaneous  stuff  that  we  moved  about 
with  difficulty  and  were  forever  apologizing  folr 
walking  on  each  other's  feet. 

For  two  nights  and  the  better  part  of  two  days 
we  traveled  southward  through  fields  of  wheat,  bar- 
ley and  potatoes,  where  women  in  bright  red  and 
blue  smocks  toiled  among  the  ripening  harvests. 
News  of  the  train  had  gone  down  the  line,  and  the 
first  stage  of  our  journey,  through  the  white  night, 
was  one  continued  ovation.  At  every  station  crowds 
had  gathered  to  cheer  the  women  and  to  demand  a 
sight  of  Botchkareva.  It  was  largely  a  masculine 
crowd,  soldiers  mostly,  goodnatured  and  laughing, 
but  many  women  were  there  too,  nurses,  working 
girls,  peasants.  Occasionally  one  saw  ladies  in  din- 
ner gowns  escorted  by  officer  friends. 

The  farther  we  traveled  from  Petrograd,  the 
point  of  contact  in  Russia  with  western  civilization, 
the  more  apparent  it  grew  that  things  were  terribly 
wrong  with  the  empire.  More  and  more  the 
changed  character  of  the  station  crowds  reminded 
us  of  the  widespread  disruption  of  the  army.  The 
men  who  met  the  train  wore  soldiers'  uniforms  but 
they  had  lost  all  of  their  upright,  soldierly  bearing. 


TO  THE  FRONT  WITH  BOTCHKAREVA      63 

They  slouched  like  convicts,  they  were  dirty  and  un- 
kempt, and  their  eyes  were  full  of  vacuous  inso- 
lence. Absence  of  discipline  and  all  restraint  had 
robbed  them  of  whatever  manhood  they  had  once 
possessed.  The  news  of  the  women's  battalion  had 
drawn  these  men  like  a  swarm  of  bees.  They  thrust 
their  unshaven  faces  into  the  car  windows,  bawling 
the  parrot  phrases  taught  them  by  their  German  spy 
leaders.  "Who  fights  for  the  damned  capitalists? 
Who  fights  for  English  bloodsuckers?  We  don't 
fight." 

And  the  women,  scorn  flashing  from  their  eyes, 
flung  back:  "That  is  the  reason  why  we  do.  Go 
home,  you  cowards,  and  let  women  fight  for  Russia." 

Their  last,  flimsy  thread  of  "peace"  propaganda 
exhausted  the  men  usually  fell  back  on  personal  in- 
sults, but  to  these  the  women,  following  strict  or- 
ders, made  no  reply.  When  the  language  became 
too  coarse  the  women  simply  closed  the  windows. 
No  actual  violence  was  ever  offered  them.  When 
they  left  the  train  for  hot  water  or  for  tea,  for  more 
food  or  to  buy  newspapers,  they  walked  so  fear- 
lessly into  the  crowds  that  the  men  withdrew,  sneer- 
ing and  growling,  but  standing  aside. 

There  was  something  indescribably  strange  about 
going  on  a  journey  to  a  destination  absolutely  un- 
known, except  to  the  one  in  command  of  the  expe- 
dition. Above  all  it  was  strange  to  feel  that  you 
were  seeing  women  voluntarily  giving  up  the  last 
shred  of  protection  and  security  supposed  to  be  due 
them.  They  were  going  to  meet  death,  death  in 
battle  against  a  foreign  foe,  the  first  women  in  the 
world  to  volunteer  for  such  an  end.    Yet  every  one 


64       INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

was  happy,  and  the  only  fear  expressed  was  lest  the 
battalion  should  not  be  sent  at  once  to  the  trenches. 

As  for  me,  when  we  arrived  at  our  destination, 
some  two  miles  from  the  barracks  prepared  for  us, 
I  had  a  moment  of  longing  for  the  comparative 
safety  of  the  trenches.  For  what  looked  to  me  like 
the  whole  Russian  army  had  come  out  to  meet  the 
women's  battalion,  and  was  solidly  massed  on  both 
sides  of  the  railroad  track  as  far  as  I  could  see. 

I  looked  at  the  Nachalnik  calmly  buckling  on  her 
sword  and  revolver.  She  had  a  confident  little  smile 
on  her  lips.  "You  may  have  to  fight  those  men  out 
there  before  you  fight  the  Germans,"  I  said. 

"We  are  ready  to  begin  fighting  any  time,"  she 
replied. 

She  was  the  first  one  out  of  the  train,  and  the 
others  rapidly  followed  her. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

IN  CAMP  AND  BATTLEFIELD 

The  women's  regiment  did  not  have  to  fight  its 
brothers  in  arms,  however.  The  woman  commander 
took  care  of  that.  She  just  walked  into  that  mob 
of  waiting  soldiers  and  barked  out  a  command  in  a 
voice  I  had  never  before  heard  her  use.  It  re- 
minded me  somewhat  of  that  extra  awful  motor  car 
siren  that  infuriates  the  pedestrian,  but  lifts  him 
out  of  the  road  in  one  quick  jump.  Botchkareva's 
command  was  spoken  in  Russian,  and  a  liberal  trans- 
lation of  it  might  read:  "You  get  to  hell  out  of 
here  and  let  my  regiment  pass." 

It  may  not  have  been  ladylike,  but  it  had  the 
proper  effect  on  the  Russian  army,  which  promptly 
backed  up  on  both  sides  of  the  road,  leaving  a  clear 
lane  between  for  the  women.  The  women  shoul- 
dered their  heavy  kits  and  under  a  broiling  sun 
marched  the  two  miles  which  lay  between  the  rail- 
road and  the  camp.  The  Russian  army  followed  the 
whole  way,  apparently  deciding  that  the  better  part 
of  valor  was  to  laugh  at  the  women,  not  to  fight 
them. 

Botchkareva  must  also  have  decided  that  the  first 
thing  to  be  done  was  to  give  those  men  to  understand 
that  whether  the  regiment  was  funny  or  not  it  would 
have  to  be  treated  with  respect.     As  soon  as  we 

65 


66      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

reached  our  barracks  and  disposed  of  the  heavy 
loads,  she  made  a  little  speech  in  which  she  said 
that  here  we  were,  and  while  we  would  be  obliged 
to  mingle  with  the  men,  relations  would  be  kept 
formal.  The  men  must  be  shown  that  the  women 
were  entitled  to  the  same  camp  privileges  as  them- 
selves, and  were  no  more  to  be  molested  or  annoyed 
than  any  other  soldiers.  We  had  had  a  long,  hot 
journey,  she  ended,  and  the  first  thing  we  were  going 
to  do  was  to  go  down  to  the  river  and  have  a  nice 
swim.  So  with  towels  around  their  necks  the  250 
women  made  gayly  for  the  river.  I  trotted  along  on 
the  commander's  arm.  At  least  a  thousand  men 
went  along,  too,  but  just  before  we  reached  the  swim- 
ming pool  under  a  railroad  bridge,  Botchkareva 
turned  around  and  delivered  another  of  those  crisp 
little  commands.  The  men  stopped  in  their  tracks 
as  if  she  had  thrown  some  kind  of  freezing  gas  at 
them,  and  we  went  on. 

It  was  a  lovely  swimming  pool,  clear  and  cold  and 
fringed  with  sheltering  willows.  The  women  peeled 
off  their  clothes  like  boys  and  plunged  in.  As  we 
dressed  afterward  I  looked  at  them,  heads  shaved, 
ugly  clothes,  coarse  boots,  no  concealments,  not  a 
single  aid  to  beauty,  but,  in  spite  of  it  all,  singularly 
attractive.  Some  of  course  were  homely,  primitive 
types.  Purple  and  fine  linen  would  not  have  im- 
proved them  much.  But  some  who  would  not  have 
been  especially  pretty  as  girls  were  almost  handsome 
as  boys.  A  few  were  strikingly  beautiful  in  spite 
of  their  shaved  heads.  You  observed  that  they  had 
good  skulls,  nice  ears,  fine  eyes,  strong  characters, 
whereas  in  ordinary  clothes  they  might  have  ap- 


IN  CAMP  AND  BATTLEFIELD  67 

peared  as  pleasingly  commonplace  as  the  girl  on 
the  magazine  cover. 

Cool  and  refreshed,  the  battalion  marched  back 
to  the  barracks,  which  consisted  of  two  long,  hastily 
constructed  wooden  buildings,  exactly  like  hundreds 
of  others  on  all  sides  about  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach.  Some  of  the  buildings  were  half  under- 
ground, for  warmth  in  winter,  and  must  have  been 
rather  stuffy.  Our  buildings  were  well  ventilated 
with  many  dormer  windows  in  the  sharply  slanting 
roof,  and  they  were  new  and  clean  and  free  from 
the  insects  which  in  secret  I  had  been  dreading.  In- 
side was  nothing  at  all  except  two  long  wooden  plat- 
forms running  the  length  of  the  building,  about 
ninety  feet.  They  were  very  roughly  planed  and 
full  of  bumps  and  knot  holes,  but  they  were  the 
only  beds  provided  by  a  step-motherly  government. 
Here  the  women  dumped  their  heavy  loads,  their 
guns,  ammunition  belts,  gas  masks,  dog  tents,  trench 
spades,  food  pails  and  other  paraphernalia.  Here 
they  unrolled  their  big  overcoats  for  blankets,  and 
here  for  the  next  week,  all  of  us,  officers,  soldiers 
and  war  correspondent,  ate,  slept  and  lived.  Two 
hundred  and  fifty  women  in  the  midst  of  an  army 
of  men.  Behind  us  a  government  too  engrossed  in 
fighting  for  its  own  existence  to  concern  itself  about 
the  safety  of  any  group  of  women.  Before  us  the 
muttering  guns  of  the  German  foe.  Between  us 
and  all  that  women  have  ever  been  taught  to  fear, 
a  flimsy  wooden  door.  But  sleeplessly  guarding  that 
door  a  woman  with  a  gun. 

In  that  first  midnight  in  camp  I  woke  on  my  plank 
bed  to  hear  the  shuffling  of  men's  feet  on  the  thresh- 


68      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

old,  a  loud  knock  at  the  door,  and  from  our  sen- 
try a  sharp  challenge:    "Who  goes  there?" 

"We  want  to  come  in,"  said  a  man's  voice  in- 
gratiatingly. 

"No  one  can  come  in  at  this  hour,"  answered  the 
sentry.     "Who  are  you  and  what  do  you  want?" 

The  man's  answer  was  brutally  to  the  point. 
"Aren't  there  girls  here?"  he  demanded. 

"There  are  no  girls  here,"  was  the  instant  reply. 
"Only  soldiers  are  here." 

An  angry  fist  crashed  against  the  thin  wood,  to  be 
answered  by  the  swift  click  of  a  rifle  barrel  on  the 
other  side.  "Unless  you  leave  at  once  we  shall  fire 
on  you,"  said  the  sentry  in  a  voice  of  portentous 
calm. 

Down  the  long  plank  platform  I  heard  a  succes- 
sion of  low  chuckles,  and  a  sleepy  comment  or  two 
which  the  retreating  men  outside  would  not  have 
found  complimentary.  That  midnight  encounter 
served  the  excellent  purpose  of  finally  establishing 
the  status  of  the  regiment  in  camp.  From  that  time 
on  we  lived  unmolested.  We  stood  in  line  with  the 
men  at  the  cookhouse  for  our  daily  rations  of  black 
bread,  soup  and  kasha,  a  sort  of  porridge  made  of 
buckwheat.  We  performed  our  simple  morning 
toilets  in  the  open;  we  washed  our  clothes  in  im- 
provised washtubs  behind  the  barracks;  we  strolled 
about  between  drills.  The  men  followed  us  around 
from  morning  until  night.  They  watched  us  open 
eyed,  hung  in  curious  groups  before  the  doors.  A 
few  were  openly  friendly,  and  beyond  some  dis- 
paraging remarks  regarding  our  personal  appear- 
ance none  were  hostile. 


IN  CAMP  AND  BATTLEFIELD  69 

The  day  after  we  arrived,  Monday,  it  rained.  It 
poured.  The  camp  became  a  swamp.  The  women 
stayed  in  their  barrack,  drilling  as  best  they  could 
in  the  narrow  aisles.  Sitting  on  the  edge  of  their 
plank  beds,  the  only  place  there  was  to  sit,  they 
listened  with  deep  attention  while  under-officers  read 
aloud  the  army  code  and  regulations.  In  the  morn- 
ing a  group  of  nurses  from  a  hospital  train  in  the 
neighborhood  came  to  call,  and  in  the  afternoon  half 
a  dozen  officers  came  from  the  stavka,  two  miles 
away.  The  commander,  a  charming  man,  seemed 
astonished  and  deeply  impressed  with  the  regiment 
standing  at  attention  to  greet  him. 

"It  is  beautiful,"  he  said  repeatedly,  and  he  was 
good  enough  to  say  to  me,  "How  wonderful  for  an 
American  woman  to  be  with  them.  Thank  you  for 
coming." 

Tuesday  it  cleared  and  the  battalion  had  its  first 
open  field  drills.  The  rest  of  the  Russian  army 
stood  around  and  pretended  to  be  vastly  amused. 
Whenever  a  woman  made  a  mistake  in  the  manual, 
and  better  still,  when  she  fell  down  while  charging, 
or  splashed  into  a  mud  puddle  on  a  run,  the  men 
laughed  loudly.  Some  of  that  laughter,  I  feel  pretty 
certain,  hid  hurt  pride,  for  every  decent  soldier  I 
talked  to  expressed  his  sorrow  and  humiliation  that 
the  women  had  felt  the  necessity  of  enlisting.  Quite 
a  number  of  men  in  that  camp  had  been  in  America 
and  of  course  spoke  English.  They  said,  "Say,  sis- 
ter, what  do  you  suppose  they  think  about  this  back 
in  Illinois?"  One  man  said,  "Sister,"  (I  still  wore 
the  nurse's  coif,  having  no  other  headgear)  "back 
home  in  the  States  they  used  to  say  women  oughtn't 


70      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

to  vote  because  they  couldn't  fight.  I'll  bet  these 
women  can  fight." 

The  officers  in  and  around  that  army  position  were 
evidently  of  the  same  opinion.  They  came  to  the 
drill  field  every  day  to  inspect  and  criticize  the  work, 
and  they  sent  their  best  drill  sergeants  to  instruct 
the  women,  who  worked  hard  and  learned  quickly. 
One  day  the  commander  of  the  Tenth  army,  whose 
Russian  name  is  too  much  for  my  memory  at  this 
distance,  came  over  with  his  whole  staff,  a  brilliant 
sight.  The  commander  was  plainly  delighted,  and 
shook  hands  with  a  great  many  of  the  women.  He 
even  went  out  of  his  way  to  shake  hands  with  the 
American.  Kerensky  was  in  the  neighborhood  one 
day,  but  he  did  not  visit  us.  The  Nachalnik  saw  him 
at  staff  headquarters  and  he  sent  kind  messages, 
promising  the  women  that  they  should  be  sent  to 
the  front  as  soon  as  they  were  ready. 

The  impatience  of  those  women  to  go  forward, 
to  get  into  action,  was  constant.  They  fretted  and 
quarreled  during  the  frequent  rainy  spells  which  kept 
them  housebound,  and  were  really  happy  only  when 
something  happened  to  promise  an  early  start.  One 
day  it  was  the  arrival  of  250  pairs  of  new  boots, 
great  clumsy  things  which  it  would  have  crippled  me 
to  wear,  and  in  fact  all  the  women  who  could  afford 
it  had  boots  made  to  order.  Another  day  it  was 
the  appearance  of  a  camp  cooking  outfit  especially 
for  the  battalion.  Four  good  horses  were  attached 
to  the  outfit,  and  the  country  girls  hailed  them  with 
delight  as  something  to  pet  and  fuss  over. 

The  women  spent  much  time  cleaning  and  learning 
their  guns.    They  seemed  to  love  their  firearms,  one 


IN  CAMP  AND  BATTLEFIELD  71 

girl  always  alluding  to  her  rifle  as  "my  sweetheart." 
"How  can  you  love  a  gun?"  I  asked  her. 
"I  love  anything  that  brings  death  to  the  Ger- 
mans," she  answered  grimly.  This  girl,  a  highly 
educated,  wellbred  young  woman,  was  in  Germany 
when  the  war  broke  out.  She  was  arrested  and 
charged  with  espionage,  a  charge  which,  for  all  I 
know,  may  have  been  true.  It  was  not  proved,  of 
course,  or  she  would  have  been  shot.  On  the  mere 
suspicion,  however,  she  was  kept  in  prison  for  a 
year  and  must  have  suffered  pretty  severely.  She 
looked  forward  to  the  coming  fight  with  keen  zest. 
I  asked  her  one  day  what  she  would  do. if  she  was 
taken  prisoner  again.  She  pulled  from  under  her 
blouse  a  slender  gold  chain  on  the  end  of  which  was 
a  capsule  in  a  chamois  bag.  "I  shall  never  be  taken 
prisoner,"  she  said.     "None  of  us  will." 

From  Thursday  on  the  weather  improved  and 
the  regiment  worked  hard  in  the  field.  I  had  felt 
the  strain  of  confinement  in  barracks,  and  when  I 
was  not  watching  the  drill  I  was  taking  long  walks 
down  a  highway  over  which  went  a  constant  proces- 
sion of  troops  and  camp  supply  wagons,  moving  on 
and  on,  nearer  the  horizon,  from  which  came  fre- 
quent low  mutterings  like  distant  thunder,  but  which 
were  heavy  gunfire.  Sometimes  I  walked  as  far  as 
a  little  settlement  which  the  Nachalnik  told  me  was 
not  unlike  the  village  she  found  so  unbearable  after 
her  husband  left  it.  The  village  consisted  of  two 
rows  of  log  or  roughly  timbered  cottages  along  a 
winding,  muddy  road.  Green  moss  grew  on  the 
thatched  roofs,  and  the  whole  place  had  a  forlorn, 
neglected  look,  but  surrounding  each  cottage  was  a 


72       INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

carefully  tended  garden  with  beets,  cabbages,  onions, 
potatoes,  and  sunflowers  grown  for  the  seeds,  which 
are  the  Russian  substitute  for  chewing  gum.  Often 
the  cottages  had  poppies  growing  in  the  rows  of 
vegetables,  the  bright  blooms  giving  brilliance  to  the 
somber  and  lonely  landscape. 

Half  a  dozen  miles  on  the  other  side  of  the  railroad 
was  another  and  a  larger  village,  equally  dismal, 
but  furnished  with  a  church,  a  wayside  shrine,  small 
shops  and  other  improvements.  My  special  friend 
the  Adjutant  and  I  drove  over  there  one  day  after 
supplies.  We  bought  chocolate,  nuts,  sardines  and 
biscuits  to  relieve  the  deadly  monotony  of  our  daily 
black  bread,  soup  and  kasha.  The  regiment  bought 
some  supplies  at  little  market  stalls  near  the  station. 
Here  one  bought  butter,  sausages  reeking  with  gar- 
lic, tinned  fish  and  doubtful  eggs.  At  an  officers' 
store  in  the  vicinity  Botchkareva  spent  some  of  the 
money  donated  in  Petrograd  for  tea  and  sugar  when 
they  were  needed,  and  for  a  kind  of  white  bread  or 
biscuits.  They  were  hard  and  shaped  like  old-fash- 
ioned doughnuts,  with  a  hole  in  the  middle  through 
which  a  string  was  run.  A  yard  or  two  of  this  bread 
went  well  with  good  butter  and  hot,  fragrant  tea. 
As  far  as  food  was  concerned  I  was  better  off  in 
the  camp  than  I  was  a  little  later  in  Petrograd. 
There  was  even  a  fairly  good  hot  meal  to  be  had 
at  the  station  when  we  chose  to  go  there,  which  we 
did  several  times.  But  no  amount  of  good  food 
would  have  kept  our  regiment  happy  in  camp  very 
long.  The  women  fretted  and  chafed  and  demand- 
ed to  know  why  they  were  kept  in  that  hole.  The 
Nachalnik   coaxed    and    scolded   them    along,    and 


IN  CAMP  AND  BATTLEFIELD  73 

Skridlova,  who  was  easily  the  most  popular  person 
in  camp,  reminded  them  that  it  took  six  months  to 
train  ordinary  soldiers  and  that  they  were  being  es- 
pecially favored  by  having  the  time  shortened. 

Those  women  went  into  battle  after  less  than  two 
months'  training,  as  it  turned  out,  for  the  evening 
of  the  ninth  day  the  Nachalnik  came  back  from 
headquarters  with  orders  to  march  the  next  morn- 
ing at  five.  What  an  uproar  followed!  Cheers, 
laughter,  singing.  You  would  have  thought  they 
were  going  anywhere  except  to  a  battlefield  where 
death  waited  for  some  and  cruel  suffering  for  many. 
I  wanted  to  go  with  them,  and  would  have  insisted 
on  going  had  I  known  that  they  were  so  soon  to 
fight.  But  orders  were  merely  to  advance  for  fur- 
ther drill  under  gunfire.  I  would  have  been  fright- 
fully in  the  way  in  the  new  position,  which  had  no 
barracks,  but  only  dog  tents,  just  enough  to  go 
around.  Nothing  on  earth  except  the  knowledge 
that  I  would  be  depriving  some  one  of  those  brave 
women  from  the  comfort  of  a  dry  and  sheltered 
bed  persuaded  me  to  leave  them. 

Five  days  later  in  Petrograd  I  read  in  the  dis- 
patches that  they  had  been  sent  almost  directly  into 
action,  leading  men  who  had  previously  refused  to 
advance,  and  turning  a  defeat  into  a  victory;  a  small 
one  to  be  sure,  but  Russia  was  thankful  for  even  small 
victories  those  days.  A  short  note  from  Skridlova 
prepared  me  for  the  story  of  losses  which  I  knew  was 
coming.  She  wrote  in  French,  which  she  knows  bet- 
ter than  English,  "You  have  heard  already  per- 
haps that  we  have  been  in  action.  I  do  not  know 
yet  how  many  were  killed  or  have  died  of  wounds, 


74      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

but  two  of  those  you  knew  well  were  killed.  Cath- 
erine and  Olga,  who  you  remember  had  won  three 
medals  of  St.  George.  Eighteen  girls  are  wounded 
badly,  Nina  among  them."  Nina  was  the  girl  who 
called  her  gun  "sweetheart,"  and  who  had  been  a 
prisoner  in  Germany.  Skridlova  was  badly  contused 
in  the  head,  shoulders  and  knees,  but  she  re- 
mained in  command  of  the  remnant  of  the  battalion 
because  the  Nachalnik,  Botchkareva,  had  suffered  so 
severely  from  shell  shock  that  she  had  to  be  sent 
to  a  hospital  in  Petrograd.  She  was  nearly  deaf 
when  I  saw  her,  and  her  heart  was  badly  affected. 

"It  was  a  good  fight,"  she  whispered,  smiling 
from  her  pillow.  "Not  a  woman  faltered,  not  one. 
The  Russian  men  hid  in  a  little  wood  while  the  offi- 
cers swore  at  them  and  begged  them  to  advance. 
Then  they  sent  us  forward,  and  we  called  to  the 
men  that  we  would  lead  them  if  they  would  only  fol- 
low. Some  of  them  said  they  would  follow,  and 
we  went  forward  on  a  run,  still  shouting  to  the  men. 
About  two-thirds  of  them  went  with  us,  and  we  eas- 
ily put  the  Germans  to  flight.  We  killed  a  lot  of 
Germans  and  took  almost  a  hundred  prisoners,  in- 
cluding two  officers."  In  another  hospital  I  found 
more  than  twenty  of  the  battalion,  some  slightly 
and  others  seriously  wounded.  The  worst  cases 
were  kept  in  base  hospitals,  near  the  battle  front, 
and  I  never  saw  Nina  again. 


CHAPTER   IX 

AMAZONS  IN  TRAINING 

If  the  first  battle  of  the  first  women  soldiers  in 
the  world  had  been  fought  on  American  soil  imag- 
ine what  the  newspapers  would  have  made  of  the 
story.  Especially  if  the  women  had  gone  into  bat- 
tle with  the  object  of  rallying  a  demoralized  Amer- 
ican army,  and  had  succeeded  in  their  object.  And 
this  is  all  the  space  Botchkareva's  victorious  battal- 
ion was  accorded  in  Novoe  Vremya,  one  of  the  best 
newspapers  in  Russia.  After  describing  briefly  the 
engagement  on  the  Smorgon-Krevo  front,  in  which 
prisoners,  guns  and  ammunition  were  taken,  the 
account  proceeded:  uThe  women's  battalion  made 
a  counter  attack,  replacing  deserters  who  ran  away. 
This  battalion  captured  almost  a  hundred  prison- 
ers including  two  officers.  Botchkareva  and  Skrid- 
lova  are  wounded,  the  latter  receiving  contusions 
and  shock  from  the  explosion  of  a  big  shell.  The 
battalion  suffered  some  losses,  but  has  won  historic 
fame  for  the  name  of  women.  The  best  soldiers 
looked  with  consideration  and  esteem  on  their  new 
fighting  comrades,  but  the  deserters  were  not 
touched  by  their  example,  and  in  this  respect  the 
aim  was  not  reached.  We  must  take  care  of  these 
dear  forces,  and  not  give  too  much  consideration  to 
new  formations  of  the  kind." 

75 


76      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

If  the  press  of  Russia  had  been  wise,  the  fact 
that  some  of  the  slackers  in  the  army  were  not 
touched  by  the  women's  bravery  would  have  been 
made  less  conspicuous  than  the  more  important  fact 
that  many  soldiers  were  touched  by  it,  and  that  the 
Russian  army  was  thereby  enabled  to  win  a  victory. 
Instead  of  discouraging  new  formations,  the  press 
should  have  called  for  more  and  more  regiments  of 
women  to  lead  the  men.  They  should  have  kept 
it  up  until  people  got  so  excited  over  the  tragedy 
of  women  being  torn  to  pieces  by  German  shot  and 
shrapnel  that  they  would  have  risen  in  wrath,  taken 
hold  of  their  army  and  their  government,  and  cre- 
ated conditions  which  would  relieve  women  from 
the  dreadful  necessity  of  fighting. 

It  could  have  been  done,  the  people  were  ready 
for  it.  They  felt  the  tragedy.  At  a  memorial  serv- 
ice for  the  dead  women,  held  in  Kazan  Cathedral 
the  Sunday  after  the  battle,  the  presiding  priest  said: 
"This  is  a  terrible,  and  yet  a  glorious  hour  for  Rus- 
sia. Sad  it  is,  and  terrible  beyond  expression  that 
men  have  allowed  women  to  die  in  their  places  for 
our  unhappy  country.  But  glorious  it  will  ever  be 
that  Russian  women  have  been  ready  and  willing  to 
do  it" 

After  the  service  a  Bolshevik  soldier,  standing 
in  front  of  the  cathedral,  tried  to  turn  the  sympa- 
thies of  the  crowd  by  making  insulting  remarks 
about  the  dead  women.  He  did  not  have  time  to 
say  much  before  a  group  of  working  women,  with 
howls  of  rage,  rushed  him,  and  I  believe  would  have 
killed  him  if  his  friends  had  not  got  him  away. 

Of  the  women  left  alive  but  wounded,  thirty  were 


AMAZONS  IN  TRAINING  77 

brought  to  a  hospital  not  far  from  the  Nikolai  sta- 
tion, Petrograd,  and  there  I  saw  them.  When  I 
went  into  the  first  hospital  ward  a  wounded  girl 
sat  up  in  bed  and,  smiling  like  the  sun,  held  out  to 
me  a  German  officer's  helmet,  her  prize  of  battle. 
She  had  killed  him — that  was  her  duty — and  had 
taken  his  helmet  as  a  man  would  have  done.  But 
when  she  told  me  that  Orlova,  big,  dull,  kind,  un- 
selfish Orlova,  loved  by  everybody,  was  among  the 
killed,  she  broke  down  and  wept  as  any  woman 
would  have  done. 

From  this  girl  and  the  others  I  learned  that  Botch- 
kareva  had  spoken  the  exact  truth  when  she  said 
that  no  woman  had  faltered  or  shown  fear.  "We 
all  expected  to  die,  I  think,"  one  girl  said.  "I  know 
that  I  did.  I  said  over  the  prayers  for  the  dying 
while  I  was  dressing  that  morning.  We  all  prayed 
and  kissed  our  holy  pictures,  and  thought  sadly 
about  the  ones  at  home.  But  we  were  not  afraid. 
We  were  stationed  between  two  little  woods.  They 
were  full  of  men,  some  who  openly  refused  to  go 
forward,  some  who  hesitated  and  didn't  quite  know 
what  they  ought  to  do.  We  shouted  at  them,  the 
commander  shouted  at  them,  called  them  cowards, 
traitors,  everything  we  could  think  of.  Then  the 
commander  called  out:  'Come  on,  brothers,  we'll 
go  first  if  you'll  only  follow.' 

"  'AH  right  then,'  some  of  them  called  back,  and 
we  ran  forward  as  fast  as  we  could,  following  Botch- 
kareva.  She  was  wonderful,  and  Skridlova  was 
wonderful  too.  We  would  have  followed  them  any- 
where." 


78      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

"Did  you  really  capture  a  hundred  Germans?"  I 
asked. 

"I  don't  believe  we  did  it  all  by  ourselves,"  was 
the  modest  reply.  "After  we  got  into  the  fighting 
the  men  and  the  women  were  side  by  side.  We 
fought  together  and  we  won  the  battle  together." 

Every  one  of  those  wounded  women  soldiers 
wanted  to  go  back  to  the  front  line.  If  fighting 
and  dying  were  the  price  of  Russia's  freedom,  they 
wanted  to  fight  and  fight  again.  If  they  could  rally 
unwilling  men  to  fight,  they  wanted  nothing  in  the 
world  except  more  chances  to  do  it.  Wounds  were 
nothing,  death  was  nothing  in  the  scale  of  Russia's 
honor  or  dishonor.  Then  too,  and  this  is  a  strange 
commentary  on  women's  "protected"  position  in  life, 
the  women  soldiers  said  that  fighting  was  not  the 
most  difficult  or  the  most  disagreeable  work  they 
had  ever  done.  They  said  it  was  less  arduous  if  a 
little  more  dangerous  than  working  in  a  harvest 
field  or  a  factory. 

This  point  of  view  I  have  heard  expressed  by 
other  Russian  women  soldiers,  those  who  have 
fought  in  men's  regiments.  There  are  many  such 
women;  I  have  met  and  talked  with  some  of  them. 
One  girl  I  saw  in  a  hospital,  a  bullet  in  her  side 
and  a  broken  hand  in  a  plaster  cast,  assured  me 
that  fighting  was  the  most  congenial  work  she  had 
ever  done.  This  girl  had  gone  to  Petrograd  from 
Riga  to  join  Botchkareva's  battalion,  but  for  some 
reason  she  had  not  been  accepted.  She  met  a  young 
marine  who  told  her  of  a  new  Battalion  of  Death 
which  was  being  formed  out  of  the  remnants  of 
several  old  regiments  and  of  a  number  of  marines. 


AMAZONS  IN  TRAINING  79 

"Why  not  join  us?"  he  asked.  "We  already  have 
four  girl  comrades."     So  she  joined. 

We  were  alone  except  for  the  interpreter,  and 
I  took  occasion  to  ask  this  girl  minutely  how  it  fared 
with  women  who  joined  men's  regiments.  Were 
the  women  treated  with  respect,  let  alone?  How 
did  they  manage  about  their  physical  needs?  Where 
did  they  bathe  and  change  their  clothes?  Did  not 
the  officers  object  to  their  presence  in  the  barracks? 
At  first,  my  young  soldier  admitted,  the  men  did 
not  treat  the  women  with  respect,  did  not  let  them 
alone.  She  was  obliged  to  give  the  men  some  se- 
vere lessons.  But  after  a  while  they  learned.  They 
were  considerate  in  certain  respects,  and  arranged 
for  the  girls  to  have  some  privacy.  Of  course  one 
lost  foolish  mock  modesty  when  in  camp. 

The  officers  did  not  object  to  their  enlisting,  but 
were  inclined  to  treat  them  with  a  lofty  indifference. 
The  men  too  seemed  to  assume  that  the  girls  could 
not  endure  the  real  hardships  of  war  when  they 
came.  "The  first  thing  we  had  to  do  in  camp  was 
to  make  a  quick  march  of  twelve  versts.  'Of  course 
the  girls  can't  walk  that  far,'  the  men  said,  'they 
can  ride  on  the  cook  wagons.'  But  we  said,  'Not 
much  we  don't  ride  on  the  cook  wagons.  We  didn't 
come  here  to  watch  you  do  things.  We  came  to  be 
soldiers  like  yourselves.'  So  they  said,  'Oh,  very 
well!  Harasho!  March  if  you  like.'  And  we  did. 
And  when  we  got  back  to  camp,  it  v/as  so  funny; 
sailors  are  not  much  used  to  walking,  you  know, 
and  those  men  were  completely  tired  out,  exhausted. 
They  lay  around  in  their  bunks  and  groaned  and 
called  on  everybody  to  look  at  their  feet  and  their 


80      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

blisters,  while  we  weren't  tired  at  all.  Why,  any  of 
us  had  walked  as  far  and  worked  as  hard  in  one 
day  in  the  kitchen  or  the  harvest  field.  So  we 
laughed  at  the  men  and  said,  'You're  just  a  lot  of  old 
women.  Look  at  us.  We  could  do  it  all  over  again 
and  not  complain.'  After  that  I  can  tell  you  they 
didn't  patronize  us  quite  such  a  lot." 

When  the  regiment  got  into  camp  near  the 
trenches  and  the  men  were  given  the  regulation  uni- 
form of  the  army,  the  officers  decreed  that  the  girls' 
soldiering  should  come  to  an  end.  The  real  business 
of  fighting  was  about  to  begin  and  women  were  not 
wanted.  They  could  be  sanitaries,  said  the  com- 
mander. So  they  went  back  to  women's  clothes  and 
women's  historic  job  of  waiting  on  men.  This  girl, 
however,  objected,  and  finally  confided  to  one  of  her 
men  friends  that  the  sanitary's  work  was  too  dis- 
tasteful for  her  to  endure  longer.  "Why  should  I 
be  obliged  to  patch  up  wounds?"  she  asked.  "It  is 
much  easier  to  make  them."  The  soldier  found 
some  regimentals  for  her  and  she  went  out  and 
fought  in  a  skirmish  line.  When  the  commander 
heard  of  it  he  was  terribly  angry  and  to  frighten 
her  he  put  her  on  sentry  duty  in  an  exposed  post. 
"He  thought  he'd  cure  me  of  my  taste  for  fighting," 
she  chuckled,  "but  I  wasn't  frightened  a  bit,  and  so 
he  said,  'Well,  be  a  soldier  if  you  are  so  bent  on  it. 
We  need  soldiers.'     And  so,  I  fought." 

She  described  her  first  and  only  battle  where  she 
helped  storm  several  lines  of  trenches  and  was  one 
of  thirty-seven  survivors  out  of  a  thousand  in  her 
regiment  who  took  part  in  the  engagement.  Her 
wounds,  she  said,  did  not  hurt  much  at  the  time,  but 


AMAZONS  IN  TRAINING  81 

she  was  bleeding  pretty  badly  and  thought  she  ought 
to  get  to  the  hospital. 

"Just  then  I  saw  our  captain,  and  he  was  badly 
wounded,  almost  unconscious  in  fact,  and  I  had  to 
get  him  to  the  rear  on  my  back.  It  was  all  that  I 
could  do,  for  about  that  time  I  felt  that  I  was  grow- 
ing weak  and  would  soon  have  to  sit  down.  I  man- 
aged to  get  him  as  far  as  the  first  line  of  Red  Cross 
men,  and  then  I  went  under.  I  had  been  hit  in  the 
side  by  a  bullet  or  a  piece  of  shrapnel  and  I  was 
pretty  sick  for  a  while.  By  and  by  I  felt  better  and 
somehow  got  back  to  the  rear.  The  first  thing  I 
saw  was  one  of  our  men  who  was  weeping  with  his 
head  in  his  hands.  'What's  wrong  ?'  I  asked,  and 
when  he  looked  up  and  saw  me  he  gave  a  yell.  'They 
said  you  had  been  killed,'  he  shouted.  And  he  be- 
gan to  dance  a  hornpipe.  Poor  chap,  he  had  been 
wounded  too  and  before  he  had  danced  more  than 
a  few  steps  he  began  to  bleed  and  fell  over  in  a 
faint." 

The  ambulances  were  pretty  full,  so  this  plucky 
young  creature  thought  she  could  walk  the  three  or 
four  versts  to  the  hospital.  She  had  to  give  up  be- 
fore long  and  a  captain  of  another  regiment,  himself 
wounded,  took  her  into  his  cart  or  whatever  convey- 
ance he  had,  and  carried  her  to  the  hospital.  "Our 
captain  was  there,"  she  finished,  "quite  out  of  his 
head  with  pain.  He  kept  saying,  'Don't  let  that 
girl  go  back  to  the  field.  Don't  let  her  fight  again. 
She  is  too  young.'  He  did  not  know  then  that  I  had 
carried  him  off  on  my  back,  and  me  wounded  too." 

A  great  many  women  who  had  seen  service  in 
men's  regiments  were  leaving  them  and  joining  one 


82      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

or  another  of  the  women's  regiments  which  were 
forming  all  over  Russia  about  that  time.  The  larg- 
est of  these  regiments  was  being  trained  for  action  in 
Moscow.  There  were  about  two  thousand  women 
in  this  battalion,  which  was  formed  and  recruited 
by  a  women's  committee,  "The  Society  of  Russian 
Women  to  Help  the  Country."  Among  the  women 
was  Madame  Morosova,  before  the  war  prominent 
socially,  but  since  the  war  almost  entirely  occupied 
with  relief  work.  She  was  a  very  gay  and  laughter- 
loving  person,  but  she  had  fed  and  clothed  and 
helped  on  their  way  thousands  of  refugees.  She 
had  turned  her  house  into  a  maternity  hospital  at 
times,  and  she  had  given  large  sums  of  money  for 
the  relief  of  women  and  children.  Finally  the 
women  soldiers  appealed  to  her  as  the  most  impor- 
tant work  to  be  assisted  and  her  whole  energies 
last  summer  were  devoted  to  the  battalion.  Prin- 
cess Kropotkin,  a  relative  of  the  celebrated  Prince 
Pierre  Kropotkin,  was  another  member  of  the  so- 
ciety. She  had  a  Red  Cross  hospital  until  the  army 
desertions  began,  and  then  she  closed  the  hospital 
and  turned  to  recruiting  women.  Mme.  Popova, 
vice-president  of  the  society,  is  one  more  untiring 
worker.  In  August  she  obtained  Kerensky's  consent 
to  go  to  Tomsk,  her  old  home,  and  organize  a  bat- 
talion there. 

The  Moscow  regiment  was  being  drilled  by  a 
colonel  and  half  a  dozen  younger  officers,  all  of 
whom  seemed  immensely  proud  of  their  command. 
Twenty  picked  women  of  the  regiment  were  going 
daily  to  the  officers'  school  and  when  ready  were  to 
be  given  commissions  in  the  regular  army. 


AMAZONS  IN  TRAINING  83 

In  Petrograd  a  regiment  of  1,500  women  was 
almost  ready  for  the  trenches  when  I  saw  them  last 
in  August.  They  too  were  to  be  officered  by  women, 
two  score  being  a  daily  attendance  at  a  military 
school.  On  August  20  I  saw  these  1,500  women 
march  out  of  their  barrack  in  the  old  Engineers' 
Palace,  to  go  into  camp  preparatory  to  going  to  the 
front.  This  palace  was  once  the  home  of  the  mad 
Emperor  Paul,  son  of  Catherine  the  Great.  He  was 
assassinated  there  and  his  restless  ghost  is  supposed 
to  haunt  the  gusty  corridors.  I  asked  Captain  Lus- 
koff,  commander  of  the  regiment,  if  he  had  found 
out  what  the  Emperor  Paul  thought  of  the  women 
soldiers,  and  he  laughed  and  promised  to  report 
later  on  that  point. 

It  was  not  intended  to  raise  many  regiments  of 
women,  I  was  told.  The  intention  was  to  enlist  and 
train  to  the  highest  point  of  efficiency  between  ten 
and  twenty  thousand  women,  and  to  distribute  the 
regiments  over  the  various  front  lines  to  inspire  and 
stimulate  the  disorganized  army.  They  would  lead 
the  men  in  battle  when  necessary,  as  Botchkareva's 
brave  band  led  them,  and  they  would  appear  as  a 
sign  and  symbol  that  the  women  of  the  country  were 
not  willing  that  the  revolution,  which  generations  of 
Russian  men  and  women  have  died  for,  and  have 
endured  in  the  snows  of  Siberia  sufferings  worse 
than  death,  should  end  in  chaos  and  national  disin- 
tegration. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  HOMING  EXILES — TWO  KINDS 

In  a  great,  bare  room,  furnished  with  rows  of 
narrow  cots  like  a  hospital,  but  with  none  of  the 
crisp  whiteness  of  the  hospital,  nor  any  of  its  prom- 
ise of  relief  and  restoration,  a  young  man,  propped 
with  pillows,  played  on  a  concertina.  He  was  white, 
emaciated,  near  the  end  of  his  young  life.  His  eyes 
were  like  banked  fires.  He  sat  up  in  bed  and  in 
the  intervals  of  coughing  made  the  most  wonderful 
music  on  that  concertina,  much  more  wonderful  than 
I  had  ever  dreamed  the  humble  instrument  could 
produce.  The  man  was  a  true  musician,  and  he 
had  had  many  years  of  practice  on  his  concertina, 
for  it  had  been  the  one  friend  and  solace  of  a  soli- 
tary confinement  which  lasted  nearly  a  dozen  years. 
All  around  him  in  that  bare  room  men  lay  in  bed 
and  listened  to  him.  Some,  however,  were  asleep. 
Even  music  could  not  break  their  weary  rest.  All 
were  sick.  Some  were  as  near  death  as  was  the 
musician.  Siberia  had  done  its  work  with  them. 
They  had  come  home  to  die. 

On  a  soap  box,  or  its  equivalent  on  a  corner  of 
the  Nevski  Prospect  near  the  Alexander  Theater, 
another  young  man  stood  and  poured  out  a  passion- 
ate speech  to  the  crowd  of  soldiers,  workmen  and 
workwomen  and  idle  boys  who  had  paused  to  listen. 

84 


THE  HOMING  EXILES— TWO  KINDS      85 

The  man  was  about  thirty  years  old,  and  his  clothes, 
it  was  plain  to  see,  had  never  been  purchased  in 
Russia.  They  were  American  clothes  of  fair  qual- 
ity, and  of  that  stylish  cut  possible  to  buy  for  twen- 
ty-five dollars  in  almost  any  department  store.  He 
wore  a  derby  hat,  tipped  back  on  his  head,  a  soft 
collar  and  a  flowing  tie.  He  talked  rapidly  and  with 
many  gestures,  and  the  crowd  listened  with  rapt  in- 
terest to  his  speech.  I,  too,  stopped  to  listen.  "What 
is  he  saying?"  I  asked  my  interpreter. 

"I  don't  like  to  tell  you/'  she  replied. 

I  insisted,  and  this  is  an  almost  literal  transla- 
tion of  what  that  man  said,  on  that  Petrograd  street 
corner,  on  an  August  day,  19 17: 

"You  people  over  here  in  Russia  don't  want  to 
make  a  mistake  of  setting  up  the  kind  of  a  republic, 
of  the  kind  of  phony  democracy  like  what  they've 
got  in  the  United  States.  I  lived  in  the  United 
States  for  ten  years,  and  you  take  it  from  me,  it's 
the  worst  government  in  the  world.  They  have  a 
president  who  is  worse  than  the  Czar.  The  police 
are  worse  than  Cossacks.  The  capitalist  class  is  on 
top  there  just  like  they  were  in  the  old  days  in  Rus- 
sia. The  working  class  is  fighting  them,  and  they 
are  going  to  win.  We  are  going  to  put  the  capital- 
ists out  just  like  you  put  them  out  here,  and  don't 
you  let  any  American  capitalists  come  over  here  and 
help  fasten  on  you  a  government  like  that  one  they 
still  have  in  America.  It's  the  capitalists  that 
plunged  America  into  war.  The  working  class  never 
wanted  it." 

These  are  two  types  of  exiles  which  Russia  has 
called  back  to  her  bosom  since  the  revolution,  both 


86      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

of  which  constitute  another  grave  problem  with 
which  the  distracted  people  are  struggling.  The 
sick  ones,  of  whom  there  are  thousands,  came  back 
and  more  of  them  are  coming  from  Siberia  at  a 
time  when  food  suitable  for  the  sick  is  impossible  to 
obtain.  There  was  almost  no  milk.  Eggs  were 
hard  to  get  and  were  not  very  fresh.  Food  of  all 
kinds  was  getting  scarcer  every  day.  There  was  a 
fuel  shortage  that  threatened  to  make  all  Russia 
spend  a  shivering  winter,  and  what  was  to  become  of 
the  sick  was  and  still  is  a  grave  question.  There  is  a 
great  shortage  of  many  medicines.  If  fighting  is 
resumed  the  hospitals  will  be  overcrowded.  Doc- 
tors and  nurses  will  be  scarce.  Yet  the  exiles  con- 
tinue to  come  back,  the  long  stream  from  the  remote 
villages  continues  to  hold  out  its  longing  hands  to 
the  people  back  home,  who  cannot  deny  them.  And 
nearly  all  the  exiles  come  back  sick  and  homeless 
and  penniless.  Russia  must  take  care  of  those  freed 
Siberian  exiles,  and  I  don't  quite  see  how  she  is 
going  to  do  it,  unless  the  miracle  happens  and  they 
find  a  way  of  restoring  peace  and  order  in  the  land. 
In  that  case  they  can  do  anything.  They  can  even 
deal  with  the  kind  of  exile  I  heard  talking  on  the 
Nevski. 

Carlyle  says  that  of  all  man's  earthly  possessions, 
unquestionably  the  dearest  to  him  are  his  symbols. 
They  have  the  strongest  hold  on  us  without  a  doubt. 
At  the  time  of  the  French  revolution  the  sign  and 
symbol  of  the  old  regime  was  the  Bastille,  that  state 
prison  in  Paris  which  was  the  living  grave  of  the 
king's  enemies,  or  of  almost  anybody  who  made 
himself  unpopular  with  one  of  the  king's  favorites. 


THE  HOMING  EXILES— TWO  KINDS      87 

When  the  French  people  rose  up  in  their  might  and 
swept  the  old  regime  out,  the  first  thing  they  did, 
obeying  a  common  impulse,  was  to  tear  down  and 
destroy  utterly  the  Bastille.  In  Russia  the  sign  and 
symbol  of  the  autocracy  was  the  exile  system,  and 
particularly  Siberia.  The  first  thing  the  Russian 
people  did  when  they  rose  up  and  dethroned  the 
Romanoffs  was  to  send  telegrams  to  every  political 
prison  and  to  every  convict  village  in  Siberia  that  the 
prisoners  and  exiles  were  free.  They  sent  orders 
to  all  the  jailers  and  guards  that  the  exiles  were 
to  be  furnished  with  clothing  and  money  and  trans- 
portation to  the  railroads,  and  the  railroads  were 
directed  to  bring  them  back  to  Petrograd. 

There  is  something  to  warm  the  coldest  blood  in 
the  thought  of  what  it  must  have  meant  to  those 
poor,  desolate  creatures,  living  in  the  hopeless  iso- 
lation of  Siberia,  to  have  the  door  of  the  cell  open 
one  February  day  and  hear  the  words,  "You  are 
free!"  Sometimes  the  announcement  was  prefaced 
by  words  of  unheard  of  friendliness  and  courtesy 
from  wardens  and  jailers  who  had  before  been  cruel 
and  brutal  task-masters.  "Please  forgive  me  if  I 
have  been  over-zealous  in  my  duties,"  these  men 
would  say,  and  the  prisoner  would  think  that  he 
had  gone  mad  and  was  dreaming.  Then  the  an- 
nouncement would  come,  unbelievable  in  its  wonder ; 
the  revolution  had  actually  happened.  The  Czar 
was  gone.  The  prisoner  was  free.  They  heard 
that  news  in  the  depths  of  mines,  where  men  worked 
shackled  and  hopeless.  They  heard  it  in  lonely  vil- 
lages near  the  Arctic  Circle.  They  heard  it  in  far 
lands,  where  homesick  men  and  women  toiled  in 


88       INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

sweatshops  among  aliens.  They  were  free,  and 
Mother  Russia  was  calling  them  home  again.  I 
should  think  they  would  almost  have  died  of  joy  at 
the  tidings.  No  generous  mind  can  wonder  that 
Russia  called  back  her  children,  all  of  them,  without 
stopping  to  sort  out  the  good  and  the  bad,  the  well 
and  the  sick,  the  desirable  and  the  undesirable.  Or 
without  stopping  to  calculate  how  she  was  going  to 
take  care  of  them  when  they  got  there. 

But  very  early  in  the  day  it  became  evident  that 
Russia  was  going  to  face  a  serious  problem  in  her 
returned  exiles.  In  the  very  first  days  of  the  revo- 
lution they  opened  all  the  prison  doors  in  Petrograd 
as  well  as  in  other  Russian  cities,  and  let  all  the 
prisoners  out.  Among  them  were  a  number  of  po- 
liticals, and  many  of  them  immediately  became  pub- 
lic charges.  They  had  no  money,  no  friends,  no 
home.  The  revolution  had  robbed  them,  in  some 
cases,  of  all  three.  In  some  cases  of  long  imprison- 
ment the  homes  and  friends  had  been  taken  from 
them  by  death.  There  had  been  a  committee  work- 
ing secretly  in  behalf  of  political  prisoners,  and  now 
this  committee,  with  a  group  in  the  Red  Cross,  got 
together  and  formed  a  society  which  they  call  the 
Political  Red  Cross,  the  committee  in  charge  of  re- 
turned exiles.  For  they  saw  plainly  that  what  had 
happened  in  the  case  of  the  Petrograd  prisoners 
would  be  repeated  on  a  large  scale  when  the  Si- 
berian exiles  and  those  from  foreign  lands  returned. 
Another  committee  was  formed  in  Moscow.  They 
sprang  up  in  various  cities,  co-operating  with  the 
Zemstvoes  or  county  councils. 

At  the  head  of  the  work  is  Vera  Figner,  one  of 


THE  HOMING  EXILES— TWO  KINDS      89 

the  most  famous  of  the  old  revolutionists,  almost 
the  last  survivor  of  the  nihilism  of  the  eighteen  sev- 
enties. The  Russians  are  said  to  lack  organizing 
ability,  but  the  work  done  by  this  committee  under 
Vera  Figner's  direction  looks  to  me  that  once  Rus- 
sia gets  a  government  that  can  govern  and  an  army 
that  will  fight  the  people  of  Russia  will  organize  a 
civilization  that  will  teach  Europe  new  things.  The 
committee  started  with  nothing,  not  even  machinery 
to  work  with.  There  is  no  such  thing  in  Russia  as 
a  charity  organization  society.  Charity  and  benevo- 
lence there  are,  mostly  of  the  old-fashioned  type, 
"Under  the  patronage  of  her  imperial  highness,  the 
Princess  Olga,"  or  "the  empress  dowager."  There 
was  no  well-organized  society  of  any  kind  to  appeal 
to  to  help  take  care  of  some  seventy-five  thousand 
exiles  hurrying  home,  an  unknown  number  of  them 
sick,  another  unknown  number  poor  and  homeless, 
and  all  of  them  strangers  in  a  new  Russia. 

Vera  Figner  I  saw  in  the  Petrograd  headquarters 
of  the  society.  She  is  a  matronly  woman,  looking 
less  than  sixty,  although  she  must  be  older.  She  has 
a  handsome  face,  with  the  deep,  smoldering  eyes 
of  the  revolutionist,  but  her  smile  is  quiet  and  kind. 
Near  her  at  the  long  committee  table  sat  Mme. 
Kerenskaia,  the  estranged  wife  of  the  minister  pres- 
ident Kerensky.  She  is  an  attractive  young  woman 
with  dark  eyes  and  abundant  dark  hair,  who  gives 
all  of  her  time  to  the  work  of  the  exiles  committee. 
Mme.  Gorki  is  another  woman  of  prominence  who 
works  with  the  committees,  and  Prince  Kropotkin 
and  his  daughter,  Mme.  Lebedev,  whose  husband 
was  in  the  government  when  I  left,  are  also  constant 


go      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

workers.  The  work  was  done  through  eight  commit- 
tees, one  of  which  collected  money,  a  great  deal  of 
money,  too.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  roubles  have 
poured  in  from  all  over  Russia  as  well  as  from 
England,  America,  France.  Another  committee  col- 
lects clothes,  and  they  are  much  scarcer  than  money 
in  Russia.  A  committee  on  home-finding  also  col- 
lects sanitarium  and  hospital  beds  wherever  they 
are  to  be  found.  A  reception  committee  meets  the 
exiles  and  takes  them  to  their  various  lodgings.  A 
medical  and  a  legal  aid  committee  take  care  of  their 
own  sides  of  the  work.  All  over  Petrograd  and 
Moscow  they  have  established  temporary  lodgings 
and  temporary  hospitals  for  the  cure  of  the  returned 
sick  and  helpless.  It  was  in  such  a  refuge  that  I  saw 
and  heard  the  man  with  the  concertina. 

I  had  come  to  find  Marie  Spirodonova,  one  of  the 
most  appealing  as  well  as  the  most  tragic  figures  of 
the  revolution  of  1905-06.  She  was  the  Charlotte 
Corday  of  that  revolution,  for  like  Charlotte  she, 
unaided  by  any  revolutionary  society,  freed  her 
country  of  one  of  the  worst  monsters  of  his  time. 
She  shot  and  killed  the  half-mad  and  wholly  hor- 
rible governor  of  Tarribosk.  And  like  Charlotte  she 
paid  for  that  deed  with  her  life.  She  lived  indeed 
to  return  to  Russia,  but  her  span  after  that  was 
short.  Marie  Spirodonova  was  in  the  last  stages 
of  tuberculosis  when  they  brought  her  back  to  Rus- 
sia. Ten  years'  solitary  confinement  had  done  that 
for  her.  The  first  sentence  of  death,  afterward  com- 
muted to  twenty  years'  exile,  would  have  been  short- 
er and  more  merciful.  When  I  saw  her  she  was  in 
bed,  so  wasted  that  she  looked  like  a  child.     The 


THE  HOMING  EXILES— TWO  KINDS      91 

flush  of  fever  on  her  cheeks  gave  her  a  false  look 
of  health,  and  she  looked  almost  as  beautiful  as  on 
the  day  when  she  stood  in  the  prisoner's  dock  and 
told  the  judges  how  and  why  she  killed  the  monster 
of  a  governor.  Her  voice  was  all  but  gone  now, 
and  it  was  in  a  hoarse  whisper  that  she  greeted  me, 
and  asked  news  of  her  one  or  two  friends  in  Amer- 
ica. I  could  stay  only  a  few  minutes,  she  was  so 
weak.  It  is  hardly  possible  that  she  still  lives,  al- 
though no  news  of  her  death  has  reached  me. 

Until  the  last  breath  she  must  have  kept  her  iron 
will  and  indomitable  spirit.  Ten  years  in  a  solitary 
cell  could  not  break  that  spirit,  as  the  story  of  her 
release  shows.  When  the  first  telegram  came  to  the 
distant  prison,  where  she  and  nine  other  women 
were  confined,  the  names  of  only  eight  of  them 
were  specifically  mentioned. 

"But  what  about  us?"  wailed  the  two  forgotten 
ones. 

The  warden  of  the  prison  perhaps  did  not  en- 
tirely believe  in  the  success  of  the  revolution,  and 
wanted  to  be  on  the  safe  side.    "You  stay,"  he  said. 

"Then  none  of  us  will  go,"  said  Marie  Spirodo- 
nova,  and  they  all  stayed  until  the  next  day  when 
another  telegram  arrived  setting  them  all  free.  In 
the  same  spirit  Spirodonova  refused  to  leave  her 
companions  after  they  reached  Petrograd.  She  was 
so  famous,  so  sought  after,  that  she  could  have 
chosen  among  a  dozen  hospitable  homes,  in  the 
country,  in  the  Crimea  or  the  bracing  mountains  of 
the  Caucasus.  But  she  said  she  would  not  have 
anything  her  old  prison  mates  did  not  have,  so  Ma- 
rie Spirodonova,   daughter  of  a  general,   and  the 


92      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

concertina  player,  child  of  a  peasant,  die  as  they 
lived,  revolutionists,  spurning  all  the  comforts  of 
life,  all  the  protection  and  security  of  home,  all  the 
plaudits  of  the  world.  They  lived  and  died  for 
Russia  as  surely  as  though  they  died  on  the  battle- 
field. 

Of  the  same  type  is  the  most  celebrated  exile  of 
all,  Catherine  Breshkovskaia,  the  Babushka,  or  little 
grandmother  of  the  revolution.  They  brought  Ba- 
bushka back  to  Petrograd  in  the  first  rush.  They 
gave  her  a  reception  at  the  station  such  as  no 
crowned  head  in  Europe  ever  had,  and  they  took 
her  to  the  Winter  Palace  and  told  her  that  when 
the  Czar  moved  out  he  left  it  to  her.  Babushka  lived 
in  the  Winter  Palace  when  she  was  in  Petrograd, 
which  was  seldom.  Most  of  the  time  she  was  tour- 
ing rural  Russia  and  trying  to  make  her  peasants  un- 
derstand what  the  revolution  meant,  and  that  they 
would  make  the  country  a  worse  place  than  it  ever 
was  before  unless  they  stopped  fighting  to  grab  all 
the  land  in  sight  without  any  regard  to  right  and  jus- 
tice. "I  know  them,"  she  said  in  a  brief  talk  I  had 
with  her  in  the  palace.  "If  I  can  only  live  long 
enough  to  reach  them  in  numbers,  I  can  deal  with 
them.  They  have  listened  to  a  pack  of  nonsense, 
but  I  shall  tell  them  better." 

Breshkovskaia  is  past  seventy  years  old.  She  is 
growing  very  deaf,  and  her  weight  makes  traveling 
difficult.  Yet  her  mind  is  clear  and  vigorous,  and 
when  she  makes  a  speech  she  manages  somehow  to 
call  back  the  voice  and  the  strength  of  a  woman  of 
forty.  Spirodonova,  Breshkovskaia,  Kropotkin, 
Tschaikovsky   and   almost   every   one   of   the    old 


Prince  Felix  Yussupoff,  at  whose  palace  on  the  Moika  Canal  Rasputin 

was  killed,  and  his  wife,  the  Grand  Duchess  Irene 

Alexandrovna,  niete  of  the  late  Czar. 


THE  HOMING  EXILES— TWO  KINDS      93 

revolutionists  are  eager  adherents  of  the  moderate 
program  of  the  early  provisional  government,  be- 
fore the  Bolsheviki  crowded  in  with  their  cry  of  "All 
the  power  to  the  Soviets!'*  They  want  the  war 
fought  to  a  finish,  and  they  want  order  restored  in 
Russia.  It  is  quite  otherwise  with  another  type  of 
exile,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  some  of  this  other  kind 
were  made  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

In  the  boat  in  which  I  crossed  the  Atlantic  last 
May  there  were  three  Russian  men  who  had  spent 
some  years  in  America  and  were  on  their  way  back 
to  Petrograd.  These  men  were  not  exiles,  but  they 
had  found  Russia  intolerable  to  live  in  and  had  gone 
to  America,  which  had  been  so  kind  to  them  in  a 
material  way  that  they  were  able  to  go  back  to  Rus- 
sia in  the  first  cabin  of  an  ocean  liner.  All  three 
were  pronounced  pacifists  and  one  was  a  readymade 
Bolshevik.  He  was  for  the  whole  program,  sep- 
arate peace,  no  annexations  or  contributions,  no 
sharing  the  government  with  the  bourgeois,  no  com- 
promise on  anything.  A  real  Bolshevik.  And  made 
on  the  east  side  of  New  York.  This  man  used  to 
talk  to  me  on  deck  and  in  the  saloon  about  how  the 
Soldiers'  and  Workmen's  Delegates  were  going  to 
dictate  terms  of  peace  to  the  allies,  and  how  the 
social  revolution  was  going  to  spread  all  over  the 
world,  and  especially  all  over  America,  and  then  he 
would  hasten  to  assure  me  that  he  wasn't  nearly  as 
radical  as  some  of  the  Tavarishi  I  would  meet  in 
Russia,  and  he  wasn't.  When  we  reached  the  Fin- 
nish frontier  and  stopped  at  Tornea  for  examination 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  all  three  of  these  men 
taken  into  custody  by  some  remnant  of  authority 


94      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

existing  in  the  army,  and  taken  down  to  Petrograd 
under  guard  as  men  who  had  evaded  military  duty. 
My  friend  declared  that  nothing  would  ever  induce 
him  to  put  on  a  uniform  or  to  fight.  Not  he.  And 
the  others  rather  less  confidently  echoed  his  defiance. 
Finally  one  of  them  said:  "On  the  whole,  I  think 
I  will  enlist.  They  need  educated  men  at  the  front 
to  talk  peace  to  them."  Thus  at  least  one  emissary 
of  the  Kaiser  was  contributed  to  poor,  bleeding  Rus- 
sia by  the  United  States. 

Just  one  more  case,  because  it  is  typical  of  many. 
This  man  was  a  real  exile,  and  for  eleven  years  he 
had  lived  in  Chicago.  Born  in  a  small  city  of  west- 
ern Russia,  he  joined,  when  still  a  youth,  what  was 
known  as  the  Bund,  a  socialist  propagandist  circle  of 
Jewish  young  men  and  women.  The  youth's  par- 
ents, quiet,  orthodox  people,  knew  nothing  of  his 
activities,  nor  of  the  revolutionary  literature  of 
which  he  was  custodian  and  which  he  had  concealed 
in  the  sand  bags  piled  up  around  the  cottage  to  keep 
out  the  winter  cold.  On  May  31,  1905,  the  Tavar- 
ishi,  or  comrades,  in  his  town  organized  a  small 
demonstration  against  the  celebration  of  the  Czar's 
birthday.  The  next  day  the  police  began  searching 
houses  and  making  arrests  among  the  youth  of  the 
town,  and  they  found  the  books  hidden  in  the  sand- 
bags. The  boy  fled,  and  found  refuge  in  the  next 
town.  Money  was  raised,  a  passport  forged  and 
the  youth  finally  got  to  England  via  Germany.  He 
didn't  like  England  and  in  1906  he  crossed  to  the 
United  States.  He  didn't  like  the  United  States 
either,  and  his  whole  career  in  Chicago  was  a  history 
of  agitation  and  rebellion.     He  was  one   of  the 


THE  HOMING  EXILES— TWO  KINDS      95 

founders  of  a  socialist  Sunday  school  in  Mayor 
Thompson's  town,  where  children  of  tender  years 
are  given  a  thorough  education  in  Bolshevik  first 
principles. 

When  the  Russian  revolution  broke  and  Russian 
consuls  all  over  the  world  advertised  for  exiles  to 
be  taken  back  to  Russia's  heart,  this  man  presented 
himself  as  one  of  the  returners.  He  showed  me  the 
certificate  issued  by  the  Russian  consulate  in  Chi- 
cago. It  says  that  it  was  issued  in  accordance  with 
the  orders  of  the  provisional  government  and  records 

that  the  said was  paid  the  sum 

of  $157.25  and  was  given  transportation  from  Chi- 
cago to  Petrograd,  via  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  the 
Trans-Siberian  railroad.  At  Vladivostock  he  re- 
ceived more  money,  and  on  his  arrival  in  Petrograd 
he  was  given  a  small  weekly  allowance  in  addition 
to  his  free  lodgings.  He  had  a  good  time  on  the 
journey,  he  said.  There  was  a  band  at  most  of 
the  stations  where  the  train  stopped,  crowds,  flow- 
ers and  much  cheering.  It  was  agreeable  to  get  back 
to  Petrograd  also  and  be  met  by  a  committee.  But 
the  habit  of  hating  governments  was  so  settled  in 
his  system  that  within  a  week  he  was  talking  against 
the  one  that  had  paid  his  way  back,  and  he  was 
talking  hard  against  the  one  which  had  taken  him 
in  and  given  him  a  free  education  and  a  job  and 
a  chance  to  establish  a  socialist  Sunday  school  with 
perfect  impunity.  He  was  in  with  all  the  Bolshevik 
activities  except  one.  He  had  no  stomach  for  fight- 
ing. The  spirit  was  willing  but  the  flesh  was  weak. 
It  got  to  a  point  where  it  was  hard  to  be  a  Bolshevik 
in  good  standing  and  never  do  any  gun  work,  so 


96      INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

this  exile  determined  to  go  back  to  Chicago.  When 
I  knew  him  he  was  haunting  the  committees  and 
various  ministries  trying  to  persuade  them  to  give 
him  the  money  with  which  to  return. 

"You  don't  think  they  can  draft  me  into  the 
American  army,  do  you?"  he  asked  me  anxiously. 
"I  am  a  Russian  subject.  I  don't  see  how  they  could 
do  it  legally." 

I  don't  know  how  many  men  of  this  kind  went 
back  to  Russia  from  the  United  States,  but  there 
were  enough  of  them  to  be  conspicuous,  and  the  Rus- 
sian radicals  believe  them  to  be  far  more  reliable 
witnesses  that  the  Root  Commission,  which  made  a 
remarkably  good  impression  on  the  educated  people 
but  none  at  all  on  the  Tavarishi.  "Don't  you  be- 
lieve that  the  United  States  is  in  this  war  for  de- 
mocracy," shouted  one  Nevsky  Prospect  orator. 
"The  United  States  is  just  as  imperialistic  as  Eng- 
land. You  oughtta  read  what  Lincoln  Steffens  and 
John  Reed  wrote  about  the  United  States  and  Mex- 
ico." These  men  will  do  Russia  all  the  harm  they 
can,  and  then  they  will  come  back  to  America  and 
do  us  all  the  harm  they  can.  If  I  had  my  way  they 
would  go  from  Ellis  Island,  with  all  the  rest  of  their 
kind  still  remaining  here,  to  some  kind  of  a  devil's 
island  in  the  South  Seas  and  be  kept  there  until  they 
died. 


CHAPTER   XI 

HOW  RASPUTIN  DIED 

Looking  at  these  exiles,  these  wrecks  of  human- 
ity done  to  death  in  the  name  of  the  state,  and  re- 
flecting that  their  number  was  so  great  that  months 
had  to  elapse  before  they  could  all  be  located  and 
brought  back  to  life,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
most  Russians  believed  the  autocracy  a  thing  too 
strong  to  be  shaken.  But  the  February  revolution 
revealed  that  the  autocracy  was  a  tree  rotten  at  the 
roots.     At  a  touch  it  collapsed. 

The  Russian  autocracy  went  down  like  a  house 
of  cards,  and  within  an  incredibly  short  time  the 
whole  horde  of  ignorant  and  reactionary  ministers, 
grafting  generals,  corrupt  officials,  court  parasites, 
vagrant  monks,  mystics  and  fortune  tellers  went 
down  with  it  and  were  buried  in  its  ruins.  The 
Czar — a  reed  shaken  in  the  wind.  The  Czarina,  the 
Empress  Dowager,  the  poor  little  Czarevitch,  Ras- 
putin, Anna  Virubova,  his  sponsor  at  the  court — 
leaves  in  the  current.  They  all  went.  In  the  dead 
of  night  a  group  of  determined  men,  led  by  a  nephew- 
in-law  of  the  Czar,  murdered  a  monk,  and  almost 
the  next  day  the  whole  Protopopoff-Sturmer  gang 
was  in  the  fortress  of  Peter  and  Paul  and  the  Ro- 
manoff family  was  on  its  way  to  Siberia.  Rasputin, 
it  is  true,  was  killed  in  December,  and  the  revolution 

97 


98       INSIDE' THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

did  not  actually  occur  until  February;  but  two  months 
in  the  history  of  a  nation  is  an  inconsiderable  lapse 
of  time.  The  story  of  the  killing  of  Rasputin  has 
been  published  in  this  country,  and,  in  its  main  facts, 
accurately,,  In  some  of  its  important  details  the 
published  stories  are  in  error,  and  I  am  glad  to  be 
able  to  tell  the  facts  as  they  were  related  by  Prince 
Felix  Yussupoff  himself,  the  man  who  fired  the  shot 
that  freed  Russia. 

Prince  Yussupoff  did  not  tell  these  facts  directly 
to  me.  He  told  them  to  Mrs.  Emmeline  Pankhurst, 
the  English  suffragist,  with  whom  he  is  on  terms  of 
warm  friendship,  and  gave  her  permission  to  repeat 
them  to  me,  which  she  did  within  an  hour  of  hearing 
them.  Prince  Yussupoff  was  willing  that  I  should 
know  the  story,  but  our  acquaintance  was  brief,  and 
I  am  sure  that  I  heard  a  more  detailed  account 
through  Mrs.  Pankhurst  than  I  should  have  had 
had  he  talked  directly  to  me,  a  comparative  stran- 
ger. ^ 

Prince  Yussupoff  did  not  kill  Rasputin,  as  has  been 
charged,  because  the  monk  had  cast  lascivious  eyes 
on  his  beautiful  young  wife,  the  Grand  Duchess 
Irene  Alexandrovna.  At  least  he  said  nothing 
about  her  in  connection  with  the  affair,  and  it  is 
certain  that  she  took  no  active  part  in  it.  She  did 
not  lure  the  monk  to  the  Yussupoff  palace  on  the 
fatal  night.  She  could  not  have  done  so  because 
she  was  in  the  Crimea  at  the  time.  Prince  Yussup- 
off killed  Rasputin  because  of  the  man's  evil  influ- 
ence on  the  Czar,  his  wife's  uncle,  and  his  worse  in- 
fluence on  the  Czarina.  The  thing  had  got  beyond 
scandal.    It  had  become  unbearable,  and  when  evi- 


HOW  RASPUTIN  DIED  99 

dence  was  presented  to  him  that  Rasputin  was  try- 
ing to  influence  the  royal  pair  to  force  Russia  into 
a  separate  peace  with  Germany,  Prince  Yussupoff 
decided  that  the  time  for  Rasputin's  death  had 
come.  Rasputin  had  to  die.  He  was  invited  to 
Yussupoff's  house  and  he  accepted.     Then  he  died. 

I  have  often  walked  past  that  great,  beautiful, 
yellow  palace  on  the  Moika  canal,  the  Petrograd 
town  house  of  the  Yussupoff  family,  and  tried  to 
reconstruct  the  ghastly  drama  enacted  there  on  that 
December  night.  Snow  burying  the  black  ice  of  the 
canal,  shrouding  the  street  and  silent  houses,  dim- 
ming the  street  lights,  and  in  a  basement  room,  a 
private  retreat  of  the  lord  of  the  palace,  a  young 
man  sweating  from  every  shivering  pore,  and  watch- 
ing the  sinister  monk  eat  and  drink  deadly  poison 
which  affected  him  no  more  than  water.  They  had 
fed  one  of  the  poisoned  cakes  to  a  dog,  just  before 
they  sent  them  downstairs  to  be  fed  to  Rasputin, 
and  the  dog  died  in  a  few  seconds.  Rasputin  ate 
one  and  lived.  Explain  it  who  can,  but  cease  to 
wonder  that  the  Russians  firmly  believe  that  Ras- 
putin was  something  more  than  human. 

Excusing  himself  on  some  pretext  Prince  Yussup- 
off went  upstairs,  where  the  others  waited — young 
Grand  Duke  Dmitri  and  two  or  three  other  men, 
and  told  them  the  incredible  news.  When  he  went 
back  he  had  a  revolver  in  his  pocket.  He  and  the 
monk  resumed  their  conversation,  which  was  on 
general  topics.  It  was  the  first  time  Rasputin  had 
visited  Yussupoff  or  had  any  particular  conversation 
with  him.  The  prince  was  not  a  favorite  at  court, 
the  empress  especially  disapproving  of  certain  al- 


*<x>    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

leged  episodes  in  his  youthful  past.  For  this  reason 
young  Prince  Felix  and  the  monk  were  on  formal 
terms,  and  it  took  a  great  deal  of  diplomacy  to  per- 
suade Rasputin  to  make  that  midnight  visit  at  all. 
They  resumed  their  interrupted  conversation,  and  in 
the  course  of  it  the  prince  invited  Rasputin  to  cross 
the  room  and  look  at  an  ikon,  or  sacred  picture, 
which  hung  on  the  opposite  wall.  These  ikons  are 
frequently  rare  objects  of  art,  gold  or  silver,  and  in- 
crusted  with  gems.  The  ikon,  which  was  to  be  the 
last  on  which  Rasputin's  gaze  was  to  rest,  was  an 
antique  of  almost  priceless  value.  He  looked,  and 
the  next  moment  a  revolver  shot  tore  through  his 
side  and  he  crumpled  up  on  the  floor  without  a 
groan.     Prince  Yussupoff  had  shot  him. 

The  prince  had  never  killed  a  man  before,  and  it 
was  natural  that,  in  his  revulsion  of  nerves  after 
the  deed,  he  should  have  rushed  from  the  room. 
He  fled  upstairs  and  gasped  out  that  it  was  over, 
the  thing  they  had  sworn  to  do  was  done,  Rasputin 
was  dead.  The  next  thing  was  to  get  the  body  out 
of  the  house,  and  this  task  was  rendered  the  more 
difficult  because  a  policeman  who  had  passed  the 
house  at  the  moment  when  the  shot  was  fired,  rang 
a  doorbell  and  insisted  on  knowing  what  had  oc- 
curred. He  was  pacified  somehow,  and  one  of  the 
men  went  out  to  get  a  motor  car.  Prince  Yussupoff 
went  downstairs  to  guard  the  body  until  the  car 
came.  Rasputin  lay  motionless  on  the  floor  beneath 
the  jeweled  ikon,  but  as  his  slayer  reached  the  spot 
where  he  lay,  the  monk's  body  shot  up,  the  monk's 
long  arms  darted  forward  and  his  powerful  hands 
reached  and  clawed  for  Yussupoff's  throat.     Half 


HOW  RASPUTIN  DIED  101 

mad  with  amazement  and  horror,  the  young  man 
tore  himself  loose,  leaving  one  of  the  epaulets  from 
his  uniform  in  the  clawing  hands.  Rushing  with 
all  his  might  to  the  room  upstairs,  he  shrieked:  "He 
lives  yet !  He  is  the  devil  himself !  We  cannot  kill 
him!" 

"We  must  kill  him !"  they  shrieked  in  return,  and 
the  whole  band  rushed  for  the  stairs.  When  they 
opened  the  door  Rasputin  was  crawling  on  hands 
and  knees  up  the  stairs.  His  face  was  diabolic. 
What  followed  does  not  make  pleasant  reading. 
They  tried  to  kill  him,  crawling  toward  them,  using 
every  weapon  they  could  grasp — revolvers,  swords, 
daggers,  clubs,  heavy  chairs,  even  their  boots.  They 
shot  and  beat  him  until  he  was  senseless,  but  even 
then  he  did  not  die.  They  tied  his  hands  and  feet 
and  regardless  of  possible  risk  of  detection  they 
loaded  the  senseless  body  into  a  motor  car,  drove 
to  the  Neva,  a  considerable  distance,  and  threw  the 
still  breathing  thing  through  a  hole  in  the  ice.  There 
Rasputin  died. 

That  is  the  way  Prince  Yussupoff  tells  it.  The 
world  knows  how  the  Czar  had  the  body  embalmed 
and  buried,  and  how  he  and  all  the  royal  family 
walked  in  the  funeral  procession.  It  was  the  in- 
tention of  the  Empress  to  build  a  costly  tomb  over 
his  grave,  perhaps  a  church.  They  usually  built  a 
church  to  commemorate  assassinations  of  royalty, 
and  the  poor,  half-demented  Empress  of  Russia  re- 
garded Rasputin  as  greater  than  royalty.  Perhaps 
if  the  revolution  of  February  had  not  succeeded  the 
church  would  have  been  built,  loaded  with  gold  and 
art  treasures,  as  those  Russian  churches  are,  and 


102    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

might  in  time  have  become  a  shrine  in  which  the 
superstitious  would  pray  for  miracles.  But  the  rev- 
olution did  succeed,  and  one  of  the  first  things  they 
did  was  to  unearth  the  corpse  of  Rasputin  and  give 
it  another  burial.  I  heard  several  accounts  of  that 
burial,  all  of  them  horrible.  One  account  has  it 
that  the  body  was  burned.  It  doesn't  make  any  real 
difference.  Rasputin  had  to  be  killed,  and  he  was. 
The  burial  was  nothing  unless  you  find  something 
symbolic  in  the  uneasy  character  of  the  man  even 
after  he  was  dead.  It  does  indicate,  strangely,  the 
sinister  nature  of  the  whole  Rasputin  episode. 

No  arrests  followed  the  killing  of  Rasputin,  al- 
though the  men  who  did  it  were  known  almost  from 
the  first.  Rasputin's  family,  with  whom  he  lived  in 
Petrograd,  knew  where  he  went  on  his  death  night, 
and  when  he  did  not  return  they  telephoned  Tsar- 
skoe  Selo  to  ask  if  he  was  there.  The  royal  family 
lived  in  the  Alexander  palace  at  Tsarskoe,  and  Ras- 
putin often  visited  them  there.  But  he  did  not  live 
at  court,  as  many  people  seem  to  think.  The  Czar- 
ina, frightened  half  to  death,  sent  for  the  Petrograd 
chief  of  police  and  the  dragnet  immediately  thrown 
out  drew  in  the  policeman  who  had  heard  a  revolver 
shot  from  the  yellow  palace  on  the  Moika  canal. 
The  chief  of  police  went  in  person  to  the  Yussupoff 
palace  and  found  it  a  shambles.  Prince  Felix  had 
been  so  nearly  prostrated  by  the  events  of  the  night 
— he  is  really  little  more  than  a  boy — that  he  had 
not  even  had  the  place  cleaned.  The  prince  at  first 
refused  to  tell  anything  of  the  affair  and  he  stead- 
fastly refused  to  divulge  the  names  of  the  men  who 
had  helped  him  do  the  deed.     But  little  by  little  the 


HOW  RASPUTIN  DIED  103 

police  unearthed  the  whole  story,  and  the  frantic 
Czarina  learned  that  at  least  two  of  the  assassins 
were  of  the  blood  royal.  She  demanded  their  pun- 
ishment, and  the  Czar  joined  with  her  in  the  demand. 

They  would  have  sent  all  the  men  to  the  farthest 
Siberian  mine  if  they  had  had  their  way.  •  But  there 
was  a  meeting  of  the  Romanoff  clan  in  the  Tsarskoe 
palace,  probably  more  than  one  meeting.  The  grand 
dukes  were  all  there,  and  the  Empress  Dowager. 
They  told  the  royal  pair  that  nobody  must  suffer 
for  the  deed.  Horrible  as  it  was,  it  had  to  happen 
some  time,  because  assassination  was  the  certain  end 
of  men  like  Rasputin.  They  told  the  Emperor  and 
Empress  plainly  that  they  were  fortunate  that  only 
one  assassination  had  taken  place.  Nobody  at  that 
time  knew  that  the  revolution  was  close  at  hand. 
None  of  the  Romanoff  family  believed  that  the  rev- 
olution would  ever  come.  But  they  knew — all  of 
them  except  the  Czar  and  his  wife — that  the  house 
of  Romanoff  was  due  to  have  a  thorough  cleaning, 
and  they  were  thankful  at  heart  that  Prince  Felix 
and  young  Grand  Duke  Dmitri  had  had  the  nerve 
to  begin  the  work.  The  young  grand  duke  was  sent 
to  the  Caucasus  and  Prince  Felix  was  banished  to 
his  estates.  I  don't  know  where  the  lesser  lights 
were  sent,  but  certainly  they  were  not  arrested.  The 
grand  duke  is  still  in  the  Caucasus,  the  provisional 
government  wisely  considering  him  well  off  out  there 
on  the  Persian  border. 

Prince  Yussupoff  is  not  only  free  but  he  is  some- 
thing of  a  popular  hero  still.  He  is  very  demo- 
cratic, is  openly  sympathetic  with  the  revolution,  al- 
though he  detests  the  Bolsheviki,  who  have  turned 


io4    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

revolution  into  riot.  The  constitutional  democrats 
and  other  conservative  revolutionists  admire  the 
young  man,  and  there  is  even  a  group,  I  don't  know 
how  large,  which  would  like  to  see  him  the  consti- 
tutional monarch  of  Russia.  He  is  not  a  Romanoff, 
but  his  wife  is.  She  is  young,  rarely  beautiful  and  a 
great  favorite  in  society.  As  for  Prince  Felix,  he 
belongs  if  not  to  royalty,  to  a  family  which  has  inter- 
married more  than  once  with  royalty.  On  his 
father's  side  he  is  Count  Sumarokoff-Elston,  the  lat- 
ter name  indicating  British  descent,  the  original  Els- 
ton  coming  over  from  Scotland  during  the  reign  of 
the  Empress  Catherine.  He  gained  her  favor  and 
secured  the  title  and  estates  of  Sumarokoff.  The 
father  of  Prince  Felix  assumed,  by  Imperial  decree, 
the  title  of  Prince  Yussupoff  on  his  marriage  with  the 
beautiful  Princess  Yusupova,  the  last  of  her  line, 
who  thus  perpetuated  the  family  name.  The  Yussup- 
offs  are  one  of  the  oldest  and  wealthiest  families  in 
Russia.  Their  origin  runs  back  into  the  half-fabulous 
days  of  Tartar  domination,  the  name  Yussupoff  be- 
ing Tartar,  and  not  Russian  at  all.  It  means  Jo- 
seph's son.  The  title,  however,  dates  back  only  about 
a  century.  Prince  Felix  is  the  head  of  the  family, 
his  elder  brother  having  been  killed  in  a  duel  some 
years  ago  on  French  soil.  He  is  barely  thirty  years 
old,  and  looks  much  younger.  Nobody  would  be 
likely  to  pick  out  this  man  in  a  crowd  for  an  assassin. 
He  is  tall  and  slender,  and  almost  too  handsome. 
With  his  fine  features,  dark,  melancholy  eyes  and 
ivory  skin  he  might  almost  be  called  effeminate  in  ap- 
pearance. One  sees  such  men  only  in  very  old  fami- 
lies where  the  vigor  has  begun  to  run  low.    There  is 


HOW  RASPUTIN  DIED  105 

plenty  of  vigor  left  in  Prince  Felix,  however.  He 
has  an  Oxford  education,  and  speaks  English  per- 
fectly. He  speaks  many  other  languages  besides, 
as  the  highly  educated  Russians  are  all  supposed 
to  do,  but  which  they  frequently  do  not.  French 
is  commonly  spoken,  of  course. 

I  had  a  long  talk  with  Prince  Felix  Yussupoff  in 
Moscow,  and  we  talked,  most  of  the  time,  about  the 
American  public  school  system.  He  wanted  to  know 
what  the  Gary  system  was,  and  fortunately  I  was 
able  to  tell  him.  As  I  described  the  schools,  where 
children  spent  their  days,  working,  studying,  play- 
ing, being  wholly  educated  and  trained  to  think  as 
well  as  to  work,  the  prince's  eyes  glowed  and  his 
face  shone  with  interest  and  amazement.  "It's  the 
finest  thing  I  ever  heard  of,"  he  exclaimed.  "It  is 
exactly  what  we  ought  to  have  in  Russia."  And 
then  he  went  on  to  say  thoughtfully:  "Mrs.  Dorr, 
my  wife  and  I  want  to  do  something  for  Russia, 
something  really  worth  while.  I  don't  want  to  be 
forever  remembered  for — for  just  one  thing.  I 
want  to  do  something  constructive.  Of  course,  as 
things  are  now,  there  is  nothing  constructive  to  be 
done.  Besides,  my  wife  is  a  Romanoff,  and,  natur- 
ally  "     He  paused  with  a  graceful  little  gesture 

of  the  hand.  Naturally  a' Romanoff  couldn't  be  con- 
spicuous in  any  way  just  then.  "But  when  the  time 
comes,  if  it  ever  does,  when  Russia  is  normal  again, 
why  shouldn't  the  contribution  I  make  be  to  the  edu- 
cation of  children?" 

"The  salvation  of  your  country  lies  in  the  educa- 
tion of  its  children,  all  of  them,  not  just  the  children 
of  the  rich,"  I  replied. 


io6    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

"I  believe  it,"  was  the  earnest  response.  "And 
I  want  to  help  establish  the  best  public  school  sys- 
tem in  the  world  in  Russia.    How  can  I  do  it?" 

I  told  him,  to  the  best  of  my  ability.  And  he 
promised  me  that  he  would  carry  out  my  suggestions. 
Prince  Felix  Yussupoff  means  to  spend  the  next  year 
or  two  studying  the  American  public  school,  and  es- 
pecially the  Gary  system.  He  doesn't  want  to  be 
remembered  for  just  one  thing. 


CHAPTER  XII 

ANNA  VIRUBOVA  SPEAKS 

"Let  any  American  mother  imagine  that  her  only 
son,  who  came  into  the  world  a  weakling,  and  whose 
life  had  always  hung  on  a  thread,  had  been  miracu- 
lously restored  to  health.  Suppose  also  that  the 
person  who  did  this  wonderful  thing  was  not  a  doc- 
tor, but  a  monk  of  that  mother's  church.  Wouldn't 
it  be  natural  for  that  mother  to  regard  the  man 
with  almost  superstitious  gratitude  for  the  rest  of 
her  life?  Wouldn't  it  also  be  natural  that  she  would 
want  to  keep  the  monk  near  her,  at  least  until  the 
child  grew  up,  in  order  to  have  the  benefit  of  his 
advice  and  help  in  case  of  a  return  of  the  illness?" 

I  had  heard  the  story  of  the  Rasputin  murder  as 
told  by  one  of  the  principals  in  the  gory  tragedy, 
Prince  Felix  Yussupoff,  and  now  I  was  to  hear  it 
again,  this  time  from  one  of  the  reputed  "dark 
forces,"  of  which  Rasputin  had  been  the  head  and 
front,  Anna  Virubova,  the  intimate  friend  and  con- 
fidante of  the  Empress  of  Russia,  and  believed 
by  many  to  be  the  chief  accomplice  of  Rasputin.  I 
had  heard  all  sorts  of  horrible  stories  about  this 
woman.  It  was  said  that  she  was  Rasputin's  pro- 
curess. It  was  said  that  she  conspired  with  him 
to  make  the  Empress  believe  that  the  Czarevitch 

107 


io8    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

would  die  if  the  monk  were  sent  away  from  court, 
or  if  he  voluntarily  withdrew.  On  the  several  oc- 
casions when  he  did  go,  Madame  Virubova  was 
said  to  have  fed  the  child  with  minute  doses  of  poi- 
son, so  that  he  sickened,  and  when  that  happened  of 
course  the  frantic  mother  demanded  the  return  of 
Rasputin. 

As  the  monk's  appetite  for  power  grew  and  he 
demanded  the  removal  of  this  or  that  metro- 
politan or  bishop,  the  removal  or  appointment  of 
ministers,  the  suppression  of  newspapers  that  de- 
nounced him,  the  Czarina,  urged  on  by  her  friend 
Madame  Virubova,  would  insist  that  Rasputin 
should  have  his  way.  Otherwise  he  might  leave,  and 
the  Czarevitch  would  surely  die.  Madame  Viru- 
bova was  also  said  to  have  conspired  with  a  court 
physician  to  poison  the  Czar,  or  rather  to  put  con- 
stant doses  of  some  toxic  in  his  food  in  order  to 
cloud  his  mind,  and  thus  make  him  an  easier  dupe 
for  the  pro-German  conspirators.  They  told  the 
most  amazing  stories  about  this  woman,  making  her 
out  a  sort  of  a  combination  of  Lucrezia  Borgia  and 
Jezebel. 

Whether  the  provisional  government  believed 
these  stories  or  not,  the  Duma  members  who 
forced  the  revolution  evidently  believed  Anna  Vi- 
rubova to  be  one  of  the  most  dangerous  of  the 
inner  court  circle,  or  camarilla,  which  was  planning 
a  German  peace.  For  when  the  Czar  was  forced  to 
abdicate,  and  all  the  accused  men  of  the  camarilla 
were  arrested  and  thrown  into  the  fortress  of  Peter 
and  Paul,  Madame  Virubova  was  also  arrested 
and  sent  to  the  fortress.     She  was  taken  out  of  a 


•— 
0 
So 
u 

h 

'J 


ANNA  VIRUBOVA  SPEAKS  109 

sick  bed — there  had  been  an  epidemic  of  measles 
in  the  royal  family — thrown  into  an  underground 
cell  and  kept  there  for  three  months.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  she  was  in  such  a  state  of  collapse  that 
the  prison  physician  recommended  her  removal  to 
a  hospital.  To  this  the  provisional  government  con- 
sented, but  when  the  order  for  her  release  was  pre- 
sented to  the  governor  of  the  fortress,  and  he  or- 
dered her  cell  door  unlocked,  the  soldiers  on  duty 
refused  to  obey  the  order.  It  was  days  before  they 
were  persuaded  to  let  her  go.  Madame  Virubova 
was  sent  to  a  hospital  for  a  month,  and  then  they 
set  her  free.  That  is,  they  permitted  her  to  go  to 
the  home  of  her  brother-in-law,  who  is  a  stepson 
of  the  Grand  Duke  Paul,  and  to  live  there  under 
strict  surveillance.  They  had  searched  her  house  in 
Tsarskoe  Selo,  and  her  rooms  in  the  palace.  They 
had  put  her  through  every  kind  of  cross  examination, 
not  once  but  many  times,  and  they  were  forced  to 
admit  that  they  could  not  discover  a  single  incrimi- 
nating circumstance,  or  any  evidence  of  poisoning  or 
conspiracy.  They  had  to  release  her,  but  she  was  not 
allowed  to  leave  the  country,  or  even  her  brother's 
house,  without  permission,  which,  of  course,  would 
not  be  granted.  She  was  watched  all  the  time,  and 
might  be  rearrested  and  given  the  third  degree  at  any 
time  if  the  least  bit  of  evidence  seemed  to  warrant  it. 
Anna  Virubova  is  considered  a  very  dangerous 
woman.  She  is  one  of  two  things,  very  dangerous 
or  very  much  maligned.  She  gave  me  the  impres- 
sion, after  two  long,  intimate  talks,  of  a  woman  ab- 
solutely innocent  of  any  wrongdoing.  If  she  is  a 
criminal  she  ought  to  be  put  in  prison  for  life,  for 


no    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

her  powers  of  deceit  are  simply  marvelous.  I  liked 
Anna  Virubova,  and  I  don't  think  I  could  possibly 
like  a  woman  capable  of  poisoning  little  boys  or 
handing  innocent  young  girls  over  into  the  claws  of 
a  lascivious  monk. 

How  I  met  this  woman,  how  she  came  to  talk 
confidentially  with  me,  where  I  saw  her  and  when, 
are  not  to  be  written  just  now.  They  could  not  be 
published  without  injuring  a  number  of  people,  per- 
haps including  Madame  Virubova  herself.  I  saw 
and  talked  with  her  soon  after  her  release  from  the 
prison  hospital.  She  was  still  a  little  drawn  and 
haggard  from  the  hardships  and  the  terror  of  her 
experiences  in  Peter  and  Paul,  and  she  was  in  the 
depth  of  despondency  over  the  plight  of  her  friend 
the  Czarina.  She  is  a  very  pretty  woman,  this  al- 
leged Borgia-Jezebel.  She  has  an  abundance  of 
brown  hair  and  her  eyes  are  large  and  deeply  blue. 
Her  features  are  regular,  and  her  mouth  curves  like 
a  child's.  Two  or  three  years  ago  the  train  on  which 
she  was  traveling  between  Petrograd  and  Tsarskoe 
Selo  was  wrecked,  some  say  purposely.  Madame 
Virubova  was  desperately  injured,  both  legs  being 
broken  and  her  spine  wrenched.  She  was  lamed 
for  life  and  walks  with  a  crutch,  but  in  spite  of  that 
all  her  movements  are  singularly  graceful.  One  of 
the  stories  about  her  is  that  she  was  a  peasant  girl 
brought  to  court  by  Rasputin  and  forced  on  the  Em- 
press as  a  convenient  tool  of  the  conspirators.  This 
is  quite  untrue.  Madame  Virubova  is  a  patrician 
by  birth,  and  before  she  was  born,  and  long  before 
Rasputin  appeared  in  Tsarskoe  Selo,  her  family 
was  attached  to  the  court.     The  father  and  the 


ANNA  VIRUBOVA  SPEAKS  in 

grandfather  of  Madame  Virubova  were  court  of- 
ficials, confidential  secretaries  to  the  emperors  of 
their  times.  Both  her  parents  are  living  and  I  have 
met  them  both.  They  are  highly  educated  and  un- 
mistakably well  bred.  They  are  not  rich  people,  but 
they  live  in  a  very  beautiful  apartment  in  an  exclu- 
sive quarter  of  Petrograd. 

For  more  than  a  dozen  years  Mme.  Virubova 
lived  on  terms  of  closest  friendship  with  the  Czarina. 
She  did  not  live  at  court,  at  least  she  did  not  until 
after  the  murder  of  Rasputin,  when  she  went  to  the 
palace  to  be  near  the  frightened  and  despairing  Em- 
press. She  had  a  house  of  her  own  in  Tsarskoe 
Selo,  and  it  was  at  her  house  that  the  Empress  met 
the  monk  who  was  to  have  such  a  sinister  influence 
on  her  after  life.  The  Empress,  who  was  never  pop- 
ular at  court,  and  never  happy  there,  liked  to  have  a 
place  where  she  could  go  and  throw  off  her  imperial 
character,  be  a  woman  among  her  intimate  friends, 
care  free.  Such  a  refuge  was  Mme.  Virubova's 
home  to  the  melancholy  Alexandra,  wife  of  the  Em- 
peror of  all  the  Russias.  Mme.  Virubova's  hus- 
band was  an  officer  in  the  navy,  and  gossip  had  it 
that  he  disapproved  of  his  wife's  friendship  with 
the  Empress,  and  disapproved  still  more  of  the  peo- 
ple who  were  invited  to  meet  her  in  his  home.  Ras- 
putin was  not  the  only  one  of  the  mystics  and  char- 
latans she  met  and  talked  with,  it  appears.  The 
Empress  was  deeply  religious,  and  she  was  interested 
in  all  kinds  of  strange  and  mystical  doctrines.  The 
husband  of  Mme.  Virubova  was  not,  and  he  feared, 
as  well  he  might,  that  almost  any  kind  of  a  political 
plot  might  be  hatched  by  that  "little  group  of  seri- 


ii2     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

ous  thinkers"  who  met  in  his  drawing  room  and  in 
the  scented  boudoir  of  his  wife.  They  quarreled. 
It  got  to  the  point  where  they  did  nothing  but  quar- 
rel, and  one  day  Mme.  Virubova  was  given  a  choice 
between  her  husband  and  her  friend.  She  chose  the 
friend,  and  thenceforth  she  occupied  the  house  in 
Tsarskoe  Selo  alone.  The  husband  went  to  sea,  and 
after  a  year  or  two  he  died. 

Something  of  this  Madame  Virubova  told  me, 
and  the  rest  a  friend  of  the  husband  told  me.  In 
her  story  the  husband  appears  as  a  jealous,  unrea- 
sonable, bad  tempered  man,  almost  a  lunatic.  In 
her  friend's  story  he  appears  a  martyr.  "I  have  not 
had  a  very  amusing  life,"  said  Anna  Virubova,  in 
speaking  of  her  marriage.  She  smiled,  a  little  bit- 
terly. "Perhaps  that  is  one  reason  why  I,  like  the 
Empress,  was  attracted  to  religion,  why  we  both 
liked  and  trusted  Rasputin.  We  did  trust  him,  and 
to  the  end  everything  he  did  justified  our  confidence. 
As  for  the  Empress's  feeling  for  him  I  give  you 
my  solemn  word  of  honor  it  was  solely  that  of  a 
grateful  mother,  and  a  devout  member  of  the  Or- 
thodox church."  And  then  she  spoke  the  words 
with  which  I  have  opened  this  chapter.  "Let  any 
American  mother  imagine  that  she  had  an  only  son 
who  had  come  into  the  world  a  weakling,  one  whose 
life  had  always  hung  on  a  thread,  and  that  that 
child  had  suddenly  and  miraculously  been  restored 
to  health.  Let  her  suppose  that  the  person  who  did 
this  wonderful  thing  was  not  a  doctor  but  a  monk 
of  her  own  church.  Wouldn't  it  be  natural  for  that 
mother  to  regard  the  man  with  almost  superstitious 
gratitude  for  the  rest  of  her  life?    Wouldn't  it  also 


ANNA  VIRUBOVA  SPEAKS  113 

be  natural  that  she  should  want  to  keep  the  monk 
near  her,  at  least  until  the  child  grew  up,  in  order 
to  have  the  benefit  of  his  advice  and  help  in  case  of 
return  of  the  illness?  Well,  that  is  the  whole  truth 
about  the  Empress  and  Rasputin." 

"But  did  Rasputin  really  heal  the  Czarevitch,  and 
restore  him  to  health?"  I  asked. 

"Judge  for  yourself,"  she  replied.  "Perhaps  you 
know  how  ardently  the  birth  of  a  son  was  desired 
by  both  the  Emperor  and  the  Empress.  They  had 
four  girls,  but  a  woman  may  not  inherit  the  Russian 
throne.  A  boy  was  wanted,  and  when  at  last  he  came, 
a  poor  little  sickly  baby,  the  Empress  was  nearly 
in  despair.  The  child  had  a  rare  disease,  one  which 
the  doctors  have  never  been  able  to  cure.  The  blood 
vessels  were  affected,  so  that  the  patient  bled  at  the 
slightest  touch.  Even  a  small  wound  would  endan- 
ger his  life.  He  might  bleed  to  death  of  a  cut  fin- 
ger. In  addition  to  this  the  boy  developed  tubercu- 
losis of  the  hip.  It  seemed  impossible  that  he  could 
ever  live  to  grow  up.  He  was  a  dear  child,  always, 
beautiful,  clever  and  lovable.  Even  had  less  hung 
on  his  life  than  succession  to  the  throne  it  would 
have  been  hard  to  give  him  up.  Each  one  of  his 
successive  illnesses  racked  the  Empress  with  such  ter- 
ror and  anguish  that  her  mind  almost  gave  away. 
For  a  long  time  she  was  so  melancholy  that  she  had 
to  live  in  seclusion  under  the  care  of  nurses.  It  was 
not  so  much  assassins  that  she  feared.  It  was  that 
the  child  should  die  of  the  maladies  that  afflicted 
him.  And,  in  addition  to  all  this  daily  and  hourly 
anxiety  and  pain  she  suffered,  the  poor  Empress  was 
torn  this  way  and  that  by  the  grand  dukes  and  all 


ii4    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

the  members  of  the  court  circle.  Each  one  had  a 
remedy  or  a  treatment  they  wanted  applied  to  the 
child.  There  were  always  new  doctors,  new  treat- 
ments, new  operations  in  the  air.  The  Empress  was 
criticized  bitterly  because  she  wouldn't  try  them  all. 

The     Empress     Dowager — well "       Virubova 

looked  at  me  and  we  both  smiled.  The  mother-in- 
law  joke  is  as  sadly  amusing  in  a  palace  as  in  a  Har- 
lem flat. 

"Then  came  Rasputin,"  continued  Madame  Vi- 
rubova. uAnd  he  said  to  the  Empress:  'Don't 
worry  about  the  child.  He  is  going  to  live,  and  he 
is  going  to  get  well.  He  doesn't  need  medicine,  he 
needs  as  much  of  a  healthy,  outdoor  life  as  his  con- 
dition can  stand.  He  needs  to  play  with  a  dog  and 
a  pony.  He  needs  a  sled.  Don't  let  the  doctors 
give  him  any  except  the  mildest  medicines.  Don't 
on  any  account  allow  them  to  operate.  The  boy 
will  soon  show  improvement,  and  then  he  will  get 
well.'  " 

"Did  Rasputin  sav  that  he  was  going  to  heal 
him?"  I  asked. 

"Rasputin  simply  said  that  the  boy  was  going  to 
get  well,  and  he  told  us  almost  the  day  and  the  hour 
when  the  boy  would  begin  to  get  well.  'When  the 
child  is  twelve  years  old,'  Rasputin  told  us,  'he  will 
begin  to  improve.  He  will  improve  steadily  after 
that,  and  by  the  time  he  is  a  man  he  will  be  in  ordi- 
nary health  like  other  men.'  And  very  shortly  after 
he  turned  twelve  years  old  he  did  begin  to  improve. 
He  improved  rapidly,  just  as  Rasputin  said  he  would, 
and  within  a  few  months  he  could  walk.  Before 
that,  when  he  went  out  it  was  in  the  arms  of  a  sol- 


ANNA  VIRUBOVA  SPEAKS  115 

dier,  who  loved  him  better  than  his  own  life,  and 
would  have  gladly  given  his  life  if  that  could  have 
brought  health  to  his  prince.  The  man's  joy  when 
the  child  really  began  to  walk,  began  to  play  with 
his  dog  and  his  pony,  was  equaled  only  by  that  of 
the  empress.  For  the  first  time  in  her  life  in  Rus- 
sia she  was  happy.  Do  you  blame  her,  do  you 
blame  me  for  being  grateful  to  Rasputin?  Whether 
he  cured  him  or  God  cured  him,  I  know  no  more 
than  you  do.  But  Rasputin  told  us  what  was  going 
to  happen,  and  when  it  was  going  to  happen.  Make 
of  it  what  you  will." 

Rasputin  told  the  Empress  of  Russia  that  her  son 
would  begin  to  improve  when  he  was  twelve  years 
old.  Almost  any  doctor  might  have  told  her  that 
it  was  not  unlikely  that  he  would  begin  to  improve 
as  soon  as  adolescence  began.  Many  childish  weak- 
nesses, and  even  some  very  grave  constitutional 
weaknesses,  have  been  known  to  disappear  gradu- 
ally from  that  period.  Empresses  and  ladies  in 
waiting  are  not  usually  medical  experts,  but  they 
might  have  learned  that  much  from  ordinary  read- 
ing, if  the  doctors  failed  to  enlighten  them.  But 
neither  Alexandra  nor  Virubova  knew  it,  and  when 
Rasputin  threw  that  gigantic  bluff  at  them  they 
grabbed  it.  As  a  guesser  Rasputin  was  a  wonder, 
for  the  almost  impossible  happened  and  the  sick 
little  Czarevitch  lived  up  to  his  prediction.  That's 
what  I  make  of  it. 

When  the  Czarevitch  grows  to  manhood,  if  he 
ever  does,  and  reads  the  history  of  his  father's  and 
mother's  last  years  as  rulers  of  Russia,  what  a  sub- 
ject for  reflection  this  whole  Rasputin  episode  will 


u6    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

afford  him!  He  was  the  pawn  shoved  back  and 
forth  across  the  chessboard  where  the  destinies  of 
nearly  two  hundred  million  Russians,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  Romanoff  family,  were  being  decided.  He 
was  the  bait  with  which  the  biggest  game  in  modern 
European  politics  was  played.  He  and  a  wily  monk 
and  two  women  with  a  taste  for  mystical  religion. 

"This  was  the  beginning  of  the  close  friendship 
between  Rasputin  and  the  royal  family,"  Madame 
Virubova  continued.  "But  it  was  by  no  means  the 
only  tie  between  them.  Whatever  anybody  says 
about  Rasputin,  whatever  there  may  have  been  that 
was  irregular  in  his  private  life,  whatever  he  may 
have  done  in  the  way  of  political  plotting,  this  much 
I  shall  always  believe  about  him,  he  was  clairvoy- 
ant, he  had  second  sight,  and  he  used  it,  at  least 
sometimes,  for  good  and  holy  purposes.  His  pre- 
diction about  the  health  of  the  Czarevitch  was  only 
one  instance.  Often  and  often  he  told  us  that  such 
and  such  thing  would  happen,  and  it  always  did. 
The  Emperor  and  Empress  consulted  him  at  several 
crises  in  their  lives,  and  he  always  told  them  what 
they  ought  to  do.  In  each  and  every  case  the  advice 
was  wise.  It  was  miraculously  wise.  No  one  except 
a  person  gifted  with  second  sight  could  possibly  have 
known  how  to  give  it." 

"Was  Rasputin  as  bad  as  they  say  he  was?"  I 
asked. 

"He  couldn't  have  been,"  she  answered.  "But 
he  may  have  been  more  or  less  licentious.  Unfortu- 
nately you  find  men,  even  in  holy  orders,  who  are 
weak  in  certain  ways.  I  can  only  answer  positively 
for  myself  and  the  Empress.    The  charge  that  either 


ANNA  VIRUBOVA  SPEAKS  117 

of  us  ever  had  any  personal  relation  with  Rasputin 
was  a  foul  slander.  Nothing  of  the  kind  ever  ex- 
isted, or  ever  could  have  existed.  Oh,"  she  cried, 
a  sudden  flame  dyeing  her  white  cheeks,  "how  easy, 
very  easy,  it  is  to  say  that  kind  of  thing  about  a 
woman.  Nobody  ever  asks  for  proofs.  Accusation 
and  judgment  are  joined  instantly  together.  Why, 
Rasputin  was  just  a  wandering  monk  when  we  met 
him.  He  was  dirty,  uneducated,  uncouth.  He  did 
learn  to  wear  a  clean  shirt  and  to  preserve  a  sort  of 
cultivated  manner  when  he  came  to  court.  That  was 
not  very  often,  by  the  way.  I  am  sure  that  the  Em- 
press did  not  see  him  more  than  six  or  eight  times 
a  year,  and  the  Emperor  saw  him  more  rarely  than 
that." 

"Was  he  a  German  agent?  Was  he  a  part  of 
the  political  intrigue  that  threatened  a  separate 
peace  for  Russia?" 

Anna  Virubova  was  silent  for  a  long  minute. 
She  seemed  to  be  pondering.  Then  she  spoke,  and 
her  eyes  were  the  candid  eyes  of  a  child.  "Truly, 
I  do  not  know.  Certainly  I  did  not  believe  it  in  Ras- 
putin's lifetime,  but  now — I  do  not  know.  This 
much  I  do  know,  that  it  was  difficult,  very  difficult, 
at  the  Russian  court,  to  avoid  being  drawn  into  po- 
litical intrigues.  You  know,  of  course,  what  a  court 
is  like." 

"No,"  I  said,  "I  don't  know  anything  about  a 
court.     Tell  me  what  it  is  like." 

"There  is  only  one  word  in  English  to  describe 
it,"  replied  Mme.  Virubova.  "That  word  is  'rot- 
ten.' A  court  is  made  up  of  numberless  little  cliques, 
each  one  with  its  endless  gossip,  its  whisperings,  its 


n8    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

secrets  and  its  plots,  big  and  small.  There  is  noth- 
ing too  big  or  too  small  for  these  cliques  to  concern 
themselves  with.  They  plot  international  political 
changes,  and  they  plot  private  murders.  They  plot 
to  ruin  the  mind  and  the  morals  of  an  Emperor,  and 
they  plot  to  break  up  a  friendship  between  two 
women.  They  plot  to  raise  this  one  to  power  and 
they  plot  to  bring  about  the  fall  of  another.  They 
plot  in  peace  and  they  plot  in  war.  The  person 
who  lives  at  court  and  is  not  drawn  into  some  of 
these  plots  is  an  exception  to  the  rule.  That  is  all 
that  I  can  say.  However,  Rasputin,  as  I  told  you 
before,  never  lived  at  court.  He  did  not  even  live 
in  Petrograd.  Most  of  his  time  was  spent  in  Si- 
beria, and  he  ought  to  have  been  in  Siberia  on  the 
day  he  was  murdered.  But  he  had  a  home  in  Petro- 
grad, where  his  wife  and  two  daughters  lived  while 
the  girls  were  being  educated.  Rasputin  was  very 
fond  of  those  girls,  and  he  was  visiting  them  when 
that  Yussupoff  boy  killed  him."  Mme.  Virubova 
usually  spoke  of  Prince  Felix  Yussupoff  as  "that 
Yussupoff  boy." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MORE  LEAVES  IN  THE  CURRENT 

In  an  even,  passionless  voice  Anna  Virubova 
went  on  to  tell  me  the  story  of  the  murder  in  the 
Yussupoff  palace,  as  it  had  appeared  to  the  slain 
man's  devotees  in  Tsarskoe  Selo. 

"We  knew  that  certain  people  were  plotting  to 
kill  Rasputin.  His  life  was  attempted,  you  may 
know,  at  least  three  times.  But  it  never  entered  our 
minds  that  Prince  Yussupoff  was  in  the  plot.  He 
was  not  a  favorite  with  the  Empress,  who  thought 
him  a  very  dissolute  young  man.  Still,  he  was  in 
Tsarskoe  once  in  a  while,  because  his  wife,  who  is 
a  lovely  girl,  often  came,  and  sometimes  he  came 
with  her.  On  one  of  his  last  visits  he  saw  the  Em- 
press. I  was  in  the  room  and  I  heard  him  say,  quite 
casually,  that  he  had  invited  Rasputin  to  come  to 
his  house.    'My  wife  wants  to  meet  him/  he  said. 

"We  thought  no  more  about  it,  but  on  the  morn- 
ing after  the  dreadful  thing  happened  one  of  Raspu- 
tin's daughters  called  me  on  the  telephone  and  asked 
me  if  I  knew  where  her  father  was,  and  if  not  would 
I  telephone  the  palace  and  find  out  if  he  was  there. 
Some  intuition  seemed  to  tell  me  that  something  ter- 
ribly wrong  had  occurred. 

"Trying  not  to  let  my  voice  tremble,  I  asked  the 
girl  when  her  father  had  left  the  house  and  with 

119 


120     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

whom.  'He  left  about  midnight,7  she  answered.  'I 
don't  know  whose  motor  car  it  was  that  came  for 
him,  but  he  told  us  he  was  going  to  call  on  Prince 
YussuponV  I  did  not  telephone  the  palace  to  ask 
about  Rasputin.  I  went  there  as  quickly  as  I  could 
and  told  the  Empress  my  news.  'He  went  to  see 
Felix  V  she  exclaimed.  'Why  should  he  have  gone 
there  now,  when  Irene  is  in  the  Crimea?'  We 
looked  at  each  other  and  the  same  kind  of  awful 
fear  looked  out  of  her  eyes  that  had  gathered  in 
my  heart.  'Send  for  the  chief  of  police  at  once/ 
said  the  Empress.  'Tell  him  to  come  as  fast  as  he 
possibly  can.*  It  is  almost  too  terrible  for  me  to 
tell  you.  The  police  found  the  Yussupoff  house  in 
the  most  ghastly  state  of  blood  and — ugh!"  she  ex- 
claimed, "it  made  me  sick  to  hear  them  describe  it, 
and  it  makes  me  sick  just  to  remember  it."  After  a 
moment  she  continued,  real  feeling  in  her  voice. 
"The  thing  was  not  difficult  to  trace.  The  Yussup- 
off boy  denied  everything  at  first,  made  up  a  silly 
story  about  a  dog  that  had  to  be  killed." 

When  Mme.  Virubova  said  this  I  admit  I  shud- 
dered. It  was  evident  that  she  did  not  grasp  the 
subtlety  of  that  "silly  story  about  a  dog  that  had  to 
be  killed." 

"While  Prince  Felix  was  still  insisting  that  no 
crime  had  been  committed  the  police  found  the  hole 
in  the  ice,  and  around  it,  on  the  snow,  many  blood- 
stains. And  then  they  found  the  poor  corpse.  They 
had  killed  him,  first  by  shooting  and  then  by  every 
horrible  means  in  their  power.  He  was  shot  in  the 
head  and  in  the  body,  crushed  and  mangled  almost 
beyond  recognition.     There  was  one  frightful,  ragr 


MORE  LEAVES  IN  THE  CURRENT        121 

ged  wound  across  his  stomach  which  could  only  have 
been  made  with  a  spur,  the  doctors  told  us.  When 
he  had  been  beaten  until  he  was  helpless  those  men 
tied  him  up  with  meters  of  rope  and  threw  him  in 
the  river  to  drown.  He  must  have  regained  con- 
sciousness at  the  end,  because  he  had  dragged  one 
arm  partially  free  and  by  his  hand  we  knew  that 
he  tried  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross.  Yussupoff 
persisted  in  his  denials  until  Grand  Duke  Michael 
and  his  son  drove  to  the  palace  and  told  the  Czar 
that  they  were  all  more  or  less  in  it,  and  that  it 
had  been  a  good  thing  to  do.  A  good  thing  to  mur- 
der and  mutilate  a  defenseless  man!  Well,  you 
asked  me  what  a  court  was  like. 

"There  was  a  terrific  time  at  the  palace.  The 
Emperor  was  horrified,  and  the  Empress,  I  think, 
was  nearer  the  insanity  they  accused  her  of  than  she 
had  ever  been  before.  They  demanded  the  name 
of  every  man  and  woman  connected  with  the  plot, 
and  promised  that  every  one  of  them  should  be 
brought  to  sternest  justice.  But  what  power  had 
they,  after  all?  The  grand  dukes  and  the  whole 
family  stood  as  one  against  the  Emperor  and  Em- 
press. They  declared  that  no  one  should  be  pun- 
ished for  that  atrocious  crime.  I  cannot  tell  you 
all  they  said  and  did,  because  that  would  be  reveal- 
ing confidences.  But  they  held  a  strong  enough  club 
over  the  poor  Emperor  when  they  threatened  to  de- 
sert him  in  a  troubled  and  uncertain  time.  He  was 
absolutely  forced  to  agree  that  only  the  principal 
plotters  should  be  banished  to  their  estates,  and  the 
others  should  be  left  unpunished.  Afterward,  when 
we  could  talk  about  it  at  all,"  Mme.  Virubova  re- 


122     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

sumed,  "I  reminded  the  Empress  that  the  day  before 
Rasputin  was  murdered  that  Yussupoff  boy  had  tele- 
phoned to  me  asking  me  to  arrange  for  him  to  see 
the  Empress.  She  had  declined  to  see  him,  and  we 
both  believe  that  if  she  had  received  him  he  would 
have  killed  her  and  then,  very  likely,  me  also.  We 
are  convinced  that  there  was  a  great  assassination 
plot  all  laid.    But  there  is  no  proof." 

This,  then,  is  how  the  Rasputin  murder  appears  in 
the  reverse.  Prince  Felix  Yussupoff  did  not  look 
like  a  wholesale  assassin  to  me,  but,  then,  neither 
did  Anna  Virubova  look  like  a  poison  plotter. 
Evidently  you  have  to  be  accustomed  to  the  atmos- 
phere of  courts  to  judge  these  things.  I  don't  judge 
anybody  in  this  grewsome  drama.  I  leave  that  to 
history. 

I  asked  Mme.  Virubova  why  the  court  cliques 
plotted  against  the  Empress.  "It  was  inevitable," 
she  replied.  "The  Empress  came  there,  a  stranger, 
a  poor,  beautiful,  painfully  shy  young  girl.  She  did 
not  know  how  to  flatter  or  win  favor.  She  was  stu- 
dious, and  she  was  devoted  to  her  husband  and  chil- 
dren. They  needed  her  devotion — oh,  far  more 
than  the  ordinary  family  needs  that  of  the  mother. 
You  have  heard,  I  suppose,  some  of  the  atrocious 
slanders  that  have  been  circulated  about  the  Em- 
press. One  of  these  had  it  that  she  encouraged  the 
Emperor  in  his  weakness  for  alcohol  because  she 
wanted  to  keep  him  in  a  muddled  state  of  mind  and 
herself  be  the  real  ruler  of  Russia.  The  exact  op- 
posite is  true.  The  poor  Emperor  did  drink  too 
much  sometimes,  but  it  was  not  her  fault.  There 
were  others  at  that  court  who  were  vitally  inter- 


MORE  LEAVES  IN  THE  CURRENT       123 

ested  in  keeping  their  Emperor  in  a  muddled  state 
of  mind,  and  they  constantly  played  on  his  weak- 
ness. His  wife  fought  for  him  desperately,  did 
everything  in  her  power  to  save  him  from  these  men. 

"Another  slander  said  that  the  Empress  tried  to 
Germanize  the  court,  and  that  she  made  her  children 
talk  German  to  her.  The  children  almost  never 
spoke  a  word  of  German  to  her  or  to  any  one  else. 
Of  course  they  were  taught  German,  with  other  lan- 
guages, but  English  and  Russian  were  the  only  two 
languages  spoken  in  the  family  circle.  The  Em- 
press was  anxious  for  all  her  children  to  be  good 
linguists,  but  not  all  of  them  were  gifted  that  way. 
Tatiana,  the  second  daughter,  for  example,  declared 
that  she  never  would  be  able  to  carry  on  a  conver- 
sation in  French,  the  easiest  of  all  foreign  tongues. 
But  English  they  all  spoke  from  their  cradles. 

"As  for  the  Empress's  intrigues  for  a  separate 
peace  with  Germany,"  and  here  Mme.  Virubova's 
voice  trembled  with  indignation,  "that  was  the  great- 
est nonsense  and  the  wickedest  slander  of  them  all. 
From  the  time  the  war  broke  out  until  the  revolution 
last  February  the  Empress  was  tireless  in  her  work 
for  the  Russian  soldiers  and  their  families.  She 
fairly  lived  in  the  hospitals  at  Tsarskoe  Selo.  Im- 
mediately after  breakfast  every  morning  she  began 
her  rounds,  dressed  in  the  plain  cotton  frock  of  the 
Red  Cross  nurse.  There  was  no  duty  too  humble,  no 
task  too  arduous  for  her  to  undertake.  She  stood 
beside  the  surgeons  in  the  operating  room,  seeing  the 
most  dreadful  amputations.  She  sat  beside  the  suf- 
fering and  the  dying  in  their  beds.  'Stand  near  me, 
czaritza,'  a  poor  wretch  would  cry  to  her  in  his  an- 


i24    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

guish  and  pain,  and  she  would  take  his  rough  hand 
and  soothe  him,  pray  for  him,  that  he  might  bear  it 
for  Russia.  They  loved  her  then,  those  men,  though 
they  turned  against  her  afterward.  We  used  to  mo- 
tor home  for  luncheon  and  then  go  to  more  hos- 
pitals. It  would  be  5  o'clock  before  we  reached 
home,  and  then  the  Empress  always  sent  for  her 
children.  What  time  did  she  have,  will  you  tell  me, 
for  German  intrigues? 

"The  home  life  of  the  royal  family  was  happy 
and  harmonious  above  any  I  have  ever  seen,"  in- 
terpolated Mme.  Virubova.  "The  Czar  worshiped 
his  wife  and  the  children  worshiped  both  of  them. 
Would  you  believe  that  some  of  those  court  para- 
sites tried  to  break  up  that  happy  home?  Once 
when  the  Emperor  was  at  Livadia,  in  the  Crimea, 
some  one  sent  each  day  a  great  basket  of  flowers  to 
be  placed  on  his  writing  table.  Attached  to  the  bas- 
ket was  my  card.  They  thought  they  could  make 
the  Empress  believe  that  I  was  carrying  on  an  in- 
trigue with  the  Emperor.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
Empress  asked  me  directly  if  I  sent  the  flowers.  I 
had  not  heard  a  word  of  it  before,  and  if  she  had 
merely  sent  me  away  I  should  never  have  known 
the  reason.  Against  me  they  plotted  ceaselessly. 
Why?  Because  the  Empress  loved  and  trusted  me, 
and  I  would  have  died  for  her,  and  they  all  knew 
it.  They  resented  our  friendship.  They  hated  to 
see  us  sitting  together  hours  at  a  time  over  our 
books.  We  read  a  great  deal.  It  may  interest  you 
to  know  that  we  read  many  American  books." 

"What  American  books  did  the  Empress  read?"  I 
asked. 


MORE  LEAVES  IN  THE  CURRENT        125 

"We  read  Mrs.  Eddy's  book,  of  course,  and  the 
complete  works  of  the  great  American  author, 
Miller." 

"Miller?"  I  interrupted.     "What  Miller?" 

"I  don't  remember  his  first  name,"  said  Mme. 
Virubova.  "But  you  must  know  who  I  mean.  He 
wrote  many  religious  and  philosophical  works.  The 
Empress  was  very  fond  of  them." 

I  was  obliged  to  confess  that  I  had  never  heard 
of  Miller,  and  Mme.  Virubova  looked  her  sur- 
prise. 

"Another  reason  why  the  Empress,  and  of  course 
myself,  were  unpopular  was  because  the  children 
were  with  us  so  much  of  the  time.  The  Empress 
simply  would  not  allow  them  to  associate  with  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  the  nobility.  She  wanted  to 
keep  them  sweet  and  clean  minded  and  good,  and  she 
knew  that  very  few  of  the  children  of  high  society 
in  Russia  were  fit  companions  for  them.  The 
daughters  of  our  nobility  are  mostly  frivolous,  sel- 
fish, empty-headed  girls,  and  as  for  the  sons,  they 
are  too  often  debauched  in  early  boyhood.  You  can 
imagine  that  the  Empress's  poor  opinion  of  them 
and  her  refusal  to  allow  her  children  to  know  them 
aroused  great  resentment.  People  always  think 
their  own  children  perfect,  you  know." 

The  former  Empress  of  Russia  is  one  of  the  enig- 
mas of  histories.  Mme.  Virubova,  who  knew  her 
better  than  almost  any  other  living  woman,  makes 
her  out  a  religious  devotee  and  something  of  a  puri- 
tan. She  does  not  reveal  her  as  an  intellectual 
woman,  in  spite  of  her  love  of  books.  A  really  in- 
telligent woman  in  her  position  would  not  have  spent 


126    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

so  much  of  her  time  in  the  wards  of  hospitals  in  the 
one  small  town  of  Tsarskoe  Selo.  She  would  have 
used  her  brains,  her  vast  wealth  and  her  almost 
unlimited  power  to  organize  the  work  of  the  hospi- 
tals all  over  the  war  area.  I  have  seen  some  of 
those  hospitals,  and  while  some  of  them  are  modern 
and  well  equipped,  many  are  of  the  crudest  descrip- 
tion. I  never  saw  such  a  thing  as  a  fly  screen  in  any 
Russian  hospital.  Flies  seem  to  be  regarded  as 
harmless  domestic  pets  even  in  contagious  disease 
hospitals  in  Russia. 

The  Empress  may  or  may  not  have  been  a  Ger- 
man plotter.  I  heard  it  said  on  high  authority  that 
the  minutest  search  of  all  the  palace  records,  after 
the  revolution,  failed  to  unearth  any  evidence  to 
that  effect.  Practically  everybody  in  Russia,  how- 
ever, believes  that  she  was  a  traitor  to  her  country 
in  the  war.  Those  who  are  charitably  disposed  to- 
ward her  say  that  she  was  melancholy,  mad,  irre- 
sponsible, and  a  weak  tool  in  the  hands  of  Russia's 
enemies.  But  when  the  days  of  revolution  burst  on 
the  palace  at  Tsarskoe  Selo,  and  the  night  of  per- 
petual extinction  began  to  descend  on  the  royal  house 
of  Romanoff,  it  was  this  woman,  the  Empress  of 
Russia,  who  alone  showed  strength  of  mind  and 
character.  She  alone  of  the  whole  court  kept  her 
head  and  her  cool  nerve,  and  kept  them  to  the  last. 

Much  has  been  made  of  Alexandra's  influence 
over  the  weak  and  yielding  Emperor.  It  is  said  that 
the  Empress,  when  arguments  failed  to  move  him,  re- 
sorted to  hysterical  fits  which  invariably  brought  re- 
sults. But  this  may  be  the  merest  gossip.  Alexan- 
dra's influence  over  her  husband  was  probably  as 


MORE  LEAVES  IN  THE  CURRENT        127 

strong  as  the  average  wife's,  but  is  it  not  a  little  cu- 
rious that,  while  few  countries  allow  women  to  in- 
herit a  throne  and  not  all  countries  allow  women  to 
vote,  when  anything  happens  to  a  dynasty  they  al- 
ways discover  that  the  queen  was  the  only  member 
of  the  family  who  had  any  brains  or  any  strength 
of  character?  The  troubles  of  the  whole  house  of 
Bourbon  have  been  ascribed  to  Marie  Antoinette, 
and  the  fall  of  the  third  empire  and  the  house  of 
Bonaparte  was  caused  by  the  malign  influence  of 
Josephine. 

Rasputin  is  another  actor  in  the  drama  who  will 
have  to  be  judged  by  the  historians.  I  firmly  believe 
that  Rasputin  as  a  dark  force  was  very  much  over- 
rated. I  have  no  doubt  that  he  was  a  wicked,  de- 
ceitful, plotting  creature,  a  monster  of  sensuality,  an 
impostor  and  an  all-around  bad  lot.  That  seems  to 
be  settled.  But  I  cannot  find  much  evidence  that  he 
was  anything  more  than  a  tool  of  the  German  plot- 
ters, whoever  they  were.  He  exercised  great  influ- 
ence, but  it  seems  to  me  that  almost  everything  he 
did  was  out  of  personal  spite.  He  demanded  the 
suppression  of  a  newspaper  that  attacked  him,  the 
removal  of  a  minister  who  insulted  him.  His  prin- 
cipal activities  were  against  men  in  the  orthodox 
church.  Here  he  was  about  as  venomous  as  a  rattle- 
snake. An  obscure  monk,  it  filled  him  with  pride 
and  joy  to  humble  a  bishop,  to  unfrock  a  priest,  to 
influence  appointments. 

Rasputin  had  a  small,  mean  mind,  and  his  ego- 
tism was  colossal.  Of  course  the  women  fools  at 
court  who  flattered  and  deferred  to  him,  perhaps 
worse,  fostered  this  egotism  until  it  reached  the  limit 


128     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

of  inflation.  But  Rasputin,  I  believe,  will  live  in  his- 
tory more  as  a  scandal  than  as  a  menace  to  Russia. 
He  was  a  menace  also,  because  a  bad,  weak  man  is 
often  even  more  of  a  menace  than  a  bad,  strong  one. 
The  weakling  is  almost  sure  sooner  or  later  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  plotters  and  criminals,  and  under 
their  directing  power  he  becomes  as  dangerous  as 
a  rabid  animal. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  PASSING  OF  THE  ROMANOFFS 

I  asked  Mme.  Virubova  to  tell  me  what  hap- 
pened at  the  palace  during  the  revolution  and  how 
the  royal  family  received  the  news  of  its  overthrow. 

"I  can  tell  you  only  what  I  personally  know,"  she 
replied,  "and  I  was  very  ill  in  bed  when  it  happened. 
All  the  children  had  measles  and,  helping  the  em- 
press nurse  them,  I  was  stricken  too.  The  Empress 
was  an  angel.  She  went  from  one  room  to  another 
caring  for  us,  waiting  on  us,  while  all  the  time  anx- 
iety must  have  been  tearing  cruelly  at  her  heart- 
strings. Once  or  twice  she  said  something  to  me 
about  trouble  in  Petrograd,  food  riots. 

"The  scarcity  of  food  had  preyed  on  the  Em- 
press's mind  for  many  months,  and  one  of  the  last 
conversations  she  ever  had  with  Rasputin  was  on 
that  subject.  The  winter  of  1916  set  in  early,  and 
the  snows  were  so  deep  that  transportation  of  all 
kinds  of  things,  food  included,  was  greatly  impeded. 
I  remember  that  the  Empress  said  to  Rasputin  that 
nature  itself  seemed  to  be  conspiring  against  poor 
Russia  that  year. 

"The  rioting  in  Petrograd  increased,  and  even  in 
my  bed  I  could  hear  echoes  of  it  around  the  palace. 
Shots  I  heard  and  horrid  yells.  I  tried  to  get  out 
of  bed,  but  the  Empress  soothed  me.     'It  is  bad,  of 

129 


130     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

course,'  she  said,  'but  it  will  quiet  soon.  The  poor 
people  are  mad  with  hunger.  They  will  be  given 
food  and  then  all  this  will  be  over.'  Soon  the  palace 
guards,  the  regiments  on  duty  in  Tsarskoe  Selo,  be- 
gan to  show  signs  of  demoralization.  They  were 
afraid  for  their  own  lives,  and  you  cannot  wonder 
that  they  were.  The  Empress  used  to  go  out  in  the 
cold  and  snow  in  the  dead  of  night  and  talk  to  the 
men,  reassure  them,  comfort  them.  'Nothing  will 
happen,'  she  told  them.  But  for  her  I  believe  the 
last  man  would  have  thrown  away  his  gun  and  fled. 
Her  will  and  her  resolution  alone  kept  them  at  their 
posts." 

"Do  you  think  that  the  Empress  really  believed 
that  it  was  a  riot  and  not  a  revolution?"  I  asked. 
It  was  history  this  woman  was  telling  me,  history 
that  will  live  in  libraries  a  thousand  years  after  we 
two,  and  all  of  us,  are  dust.  I  wanted  to  know  the 
exact  truth. 

"I  am  sure  she  did,"  said  Mme.  Virubova.  "If 
she  had  dreamed  that  it  was  a  revolution  she  would 
have  sent  earlier  for  the  Emperor,  who,  you  know, 
was  at  the  front  with  his  army.  She  was  alone  and 
she  faced  the  trouble  alone,  but  if  she  had  known  the 
full  extent  of  the  trouble  she  would  have  wanted  the 
Emperor  where  he  would  be  safer  than  out  there 
among  that  murderous  gang.  She  did  not  know 
that  Russia  was  in  revolution,  nor  would  she  believe 
it  at  first  when  she  was  told  that  the  army  had  gone 
over  to  the  revolutionists.  The  officers  of  the  guard 
told  her,  but  she  simply  shook  her  head.  Finally, 
Grand  Duke  Paul  came  tearing  out  to  Tsarskoe  in 
his  highest  power  motor  car.    He  convinced  her  that 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  ROMANOFFS    131 

it  was  true.  Even  then  her  steel  nerves  endured. 
'Send  for  the  Emperor,'  she  said  calmly  and  sternly. 
T  am  going  back  to  my  sick  children.'  And  she 
went." 

The  iron  nerve  displayed  by  the  Empress  of  Rus- 
sia when  she  learned  that  supreme  disaster  had  be- 
fallen the  house  of  Romanoff  was  in  contrast  to  the 
emotion  which  overcame  the  deposed  Emperor  on 
his  return  to  Tsarskoe  Selo.  At  the  time  of  his 
abdication,  near  the  army  front,  he  had  behaved 
with  dignity  and  self-command.  He  scornfully  re- 
fused the  whispered  suggestion  of  one  general  that 
he  escape  in  one  of  the  high-power  motor  cars 
which  always  accompanied  the  imperial  train.  If 
the  people  wanted  him  to  abdicate,  he  was  ready  to 
do  so,  and  ready  also  to  place  himself  at  their  dis- 
posal. Nicholas  also  showed  himself  to  be  a  good 
Russian  and  no  tool  of  the  pro-German  party,  if  re- 
ports are  correct.  When  the  news  came  that  the 
army  had  gone  over  to  the  revolution  some  one  near 
the  Emperor,  it  is  said,  told  him  that  there  was  one 
desperate  way  to  avert  the  catastrophe.  He  could 
open  up  the  Dvinsk  front,  let  the  enemy  in,  and  thus 
by  the  sacrifice  of  his  country  save  his  dynasty. 
Nicholas  refused  even  to  consider  such  a  crime. 
He  committed  many  sins  of  cruelty  in  his  time,  and 
many  more  sins  of  stupidity.  But  in  the  end  he 
showed  himself  no  traitor.  His  return  to  Tsarskoe 
Selo  was  intended  by  Kerensky  and  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  provisional  government  to  be  in  accord- 
ance with  his  former  rank,  and  orders  were  given  to 
treat  him  with  all  respect  and  consideration.  These 
orders,  if  Mme.  Virubova  is  to  be  believed,  were 


132     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

disregarded  by  the  soldiers  on  guard  at  the  Alexan- 
der palace,  the  home  of  the  royal  family. 

In  my  last  talk  with  Mme.  Virubova  she  spoke 
with  deep  feeling  of  the  rowdy  reception  given  the 
returning  Nicholas.  "They  blew  tobacco  smoke  in 
his  face,  the  brutes!"  she  said.  "A  soldier  grabbed 
him  by  the  arm  and  pulled  one  way,  while  others 
clutched  him  on  the  other  side  and  pulled  him  in  an 
opposite  direction.  They  jeered  at  him  and  laughed 
at  his  anger  and  pain.  When  he  was  finally  alone 
with  his  family  and  intimate  friends  he  could  not 
contain  his  grief  but  wept  unrestrainedly.  We  all 
wept,  for  that  matter:  we  who  loved  him." 

It  is  to  the  credit  of  Kerensky  and  the  minis- 
ters that  they  never  would  consent  to  any  sugges- 
tion that  Nicholas  be  thrown  into  a  dungeon  or 
otherwise  harshly  treated.  As  long  as  the  family 
remained  at  Tsarskoe  Selo,  which  was  until  the  ist 
of  August,  Russian  style,  and  August  13  in  the  west- 
ern calendar,  it  lived  in  its  accustomed  manner. 
The  servants,  most  of  them,  remained  at  their 
posts,  and  while  no  member  of  the  family  was  al- 
lowed to  leave  the  palace  grounds  on  any  pretext, 
nor  the  palace  itself  except  when  accompanied  by 
armed  guards,  they  had  the  freedom  of  their  home 
and  the  society  of  a  few  friends.  They  were  not 
allowed  to  telephone,  and  all  letters  reaching  them 
had  first  to  be  read  by  the  officer  in  command  of  the 
guards.  Mme.  Virubova  told  me  that  in  spite  of 
Kerensky's  good  intentions,  the  deposed  royalties 
were  subjected  to  a  number  of  petty  annoyances 
which  must  have  caused  them  all  the  resentment  and 
humiliation  their  tormentors  intended.    The  electric 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  ROMANOFFS    133 

lights  were  sometimes  turned  off  early  in  the  eve- 
ning, leaving  the  palace  in  darkness.  There  were 
days  when  the  water  was  turned  off  and  the  family 
was  deprived  of  bathing  facilities.  The  soldiers 
on  guard  were  not  infrequently  rude  and  churlish 
and  openly  exultant  in  the  presence  of  their  pris- 
oners. 

KerensKy  cannot  be  held  responsible  for  these 
things,  but  he  was  responsible  for  depriving  the 
former  Empress  of  the  society  of  her  most  intimate 
friend,  Mme.  Virubova.  I  have  already  told  how 
she  was  arrested  while  still  suffering  from  the  effects 
of  measles  and  thrown  into  a  cell  in  Peter  and  Paul. 
The  cell  was  damp  and  insanitary,  and  the  sick 
woman  suffered  extreme  misery  all  the  time  she 
was  there.  Surrounded  constantly  by  soldiers,  who 
watched  her  night  and  day,  she  was  never  alone  even 
long  enough  to  dress  or  to  bathe.  She  is  lame,  as 
I  have  stated,  and  once  she  fell  on  the  slippery  floor 
of  her  cell  and  was  unable  for  a  long  time  to  rise. 
The  soldiers  on  guard  refused  to  help  her,  but  sim- 
ply stood  and  laughed  at  her  efforts  to  reach  her  bed. 
1  'Twice  during  the  months  of  my  confinement  they 
let  my  mother  visit  me,"  she  told  me.  "But  I  was 
allowed  to  talk  to  her  only  in  presence  of  the  guard 
and  across  a  wide  table  in  the  governor's  room." 

A  friend  of  Mme.  Virubova  told  me  a  still 
worse  story  concerning  her  imprisonment.  Several 
times  her  father  was  visited  by  soldiers  from  Peter 
and  Paul  and  made  to  pay  large  sums  of  money  in 
order  to  insure  his  daughter  from  the  most  horrible 
indignities  at  the  hands  of  the  men  who  guarded  her. 
He  paid  this  blackmail.    He  had  to.    There  was  no 


134     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

power  in  Russia  to  appeal  to,  and  Kerensky  himself 
could  not  have  prevented  the  murder  or  outrage  of 
that  lame  and  helpless  woman  in  the  fortress  of 
Peter  and  Paul.  She  escaped  the  last  insult  men  are 
capable  of  offering  to  women,  and  the  government, 
after  vainly  trying  to  fasten  the  crime  of  treason  on 
her,  set  Anna  Virubova  free  under  military  sur- 
veillance. But  they  would  not  grant  the  Empress's 
plea  to  send  her  friend  back  to  Tsarskoe  Selo. 

The  first  shock  of  dumbfounded  amazement  over, 
the  royal  family,  which  had  never  believed  that  it 
could  be  overthrown,  regained  its  composure  and 
accepted  its  destiny  with  quiet  resignation.  The  Em- 
peror became  his  adored  son's  tutor,  and  the  Em- 
press her  daughters'  constant  companion.  When 
spring  came  the  whole  family  went  out  and  made  a 
garden.  The  hundreds  of  soldiers  in  Tsarskoe  and 
thousands  of  people  from  Petrograd  made  pilgrim- 
ages to  the  palace  grounds  and  watched  through  the 
high  iron  fence  the  former  Czar  spading  up  the 
ground  and  the  former  heir  and  his  sisters  planting 
and  hoeing  potatoes.  The  former  Empress,  in  a 
wheeled  chair  or  low  pony  carriage,  for  she  was  in 
feeble  health,  usually  looked  on  smilingly. 

Of  course,  the  Tavarishi,  or  at  least  the  extrem- 
ists in  the  Council  of  Soldiers'  and  Workmen's  Dele- 
gates, resented  the  respectful  and  considerate  treat- 
ment accorded  the  captive  royalties.  They  kept  up 
a  constant  clamor  for  the  removal  of  the  Emperor 
and  Empress  to  some  dungeon  in  Kronstadt  or  Peter 
and  Paul.  Every  once  in  a  while  the  newspapers 
published  a  resolution  to  that  effect  passed  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  council  in  Petrograd  or  Tsarskoe,  or  in 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  ROMANOFFS     135 

a  city  more  remote.  A  dispatch  from  Helsingfors 
said  that  the  crews  of  three  warships  lying  near 
there  had  passed  fiery  resolutions  demanding  that 
the  Czar  be  turned  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the 
ruffians  at  Kronstadt.  The  crew  of  the  cruiser  Gan- 
goute  went  on  record  as  saying:  "This  is  the  third 
time  that  we  have  expressed  our  will  in  this  mat- 
ter, and  we  have  not  been  trifling.  This  is  our  last 
resolution.     Next  we  shall  employ  force." 

The  government,  however,  disregarded  all  these 
resolutions  and  muttered  threats.  It  may  very  well 
be,  though,  that  the  final  decision  to  send  Nicholas 
and  his  wife  into  Siberian  exile  came  as  a  result  of 
pressure  on  the  part  of  the  Soviets.  Kerensky  may 
have  feared  a  bloody  tragedy  at  Tsarskoe  Selo,  and 
perhaps  he  had  reason  to  fear  it.  At  all  events,  the 
provisional  government  decided,  some  time  in  July, 
to  transfer  the  family  to  one  of  the  remotest  spots 
in  the  empire,  Tobolsk,  in  Eastern  Siberia.  The 
government  kept  this  decision  an  absolute  secret,  as 
far  as  the  deposed  Emperor  as  well  as  the  general 
public  were  concerned.  A  few  days  before  the  trans- 
fer was  made  one  of  the  Soviets,  I  think  at  Tsars- 
koe, held  a  stormy  meeting  at  which  great  indigna- 
tion was  expressed  over  the  ease  and  comfort  in 
which  the  once  royal  family  lived.  "We  eat  black 
bread,  they  eat  white,"  complained  one  impassioned 
orator.  "We  drink  cold  water  and  Nicholas  drinks 
wine.  My  wife  walks  while  his  rides  in  a  carriage. 
Where's  the  justice  in  that?" 

Doesn't  it  sound  like  a  deliberate  plagiarism  of 
one  of  the  speeches  made  against  allowing  the  six- 
teenth Louis  to  remain  in  the  Tuileries?    A  lot  of 


136     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

things  have  changed  since  the  French  revolution, 
but  some  human  nature  is  just  as  small  and  mean  as 
ever. 

It  was  not  until  the  Romanoff  family  was  well  on 
its  way  to  Siberia  that  the  transfer  was  mentioned  in 
the  newspapers.  Many  people  knew  of  it,  of  course, 
and  the  news  was  passed  from  excited  lip  to  lip  in 
the  capital  a  few  hours  after  the  special  train  left 
Tsarskoe  Selo.  In  the  newspapers  of  August  3(16, 
old  style)  the  carefully  censored  story  of  the  depar- 
ture was  published.  The  full  story,  as  far  as  I  know 
it,  reveals  that  for  three  weeks  beforehand  the  gar- 
rison at  Tsarskoe  knew,  or  suspected,  that  something 
was  about  to  happen  to  the  captives.  Two  days  be- 
fore the  event  Kerensky  went  in  person  to  the  garri- 
son and  asked  the  soldiers  to  choose  from  their  ranks 
a  squadron  of  the  most  reliable  and  trustworthy  men. 
They  were  needed,  he  explained,  for  a  mission  of 
great  importance.  Three  hundred  and  eighty-four 
men  were  chosen,  eight  from  forty-eight  regimental 
groups.  On  the  31st  of  July  (August  12)  at  mid- 
night Kerensky  appeared  at  the  barrack,  called  the 
picked  men  together  and  told  them  that  their  mis- 
sion was  to  escort  the  man  who  had  been  their  em- 
peror and  autocrat  into  exile  in  far  Siberia. 

The  royal  family  knew  its  fate  before  that  time, 
but  just  when  they  were  told  has  not  been  revealed. 
Kerensky  told  them,  and  I  feel  sure  that  he  did  it 
gently  and  courteously.  But  he  refused  them  all  in- 
formation as  to  where  they  were  going.  On  July 
30  (August  11)  the  confessor  of  the  family  held  a 
service  for  those  about  to  go  on  a  long  journey. 
Then  they  went  to  work  to  pack  trunks  and  to  choose 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  ROMANOFFS    [37 

among  clothes,  trinkets,  furs,  personal  belongings, 
books,  ikons,  rugs  and  other  essential  things  that 
would  lighten  exile  and  keep  them  in  memory  of 
other  days.  It  is  said  that  neither  Nicholas  nor 
Alexandra  slept  on  the  night  before  their  departure, 
but  wandered  from  room  to  room,  hand  in  hand, 
mutely  and  sorrowfully  bidding  their  beloved  home 
good-by.  Many  others  in  Tsarskoe  Selo  refrained 
from  sleep  on  that  night.  The  garrison  was  wildly 
excited,  and  the  streets  of  the  picturesque  little  town 
were  full  of  people.  At  3  o'clock  in  the  morning  mo- 
tor vans  were  driven  into  the  palace  grounds,  and 
those  near  enough  the  gates  could  see  that  the  vans 
were  being  loaded  with  trunks  and  boxes.  At  6 
o'clock  a  long  train  slowly  backed  into  the  station  of 
Tsarskoe  Selo,  the  station  was  surrounded  by  sol- 
diers, and  troops  with  loaded  rifles  marched  out  and 
lined  both  sides  of  the  road  from  the  palace  to  the 
station,  each  soldier  carrying  in  his  belt  sixty  rounds 
of  cartridges. 

Those  who  saw  the  departure  differ  in  minor  de- 
tails, of  course,  because  no  two  people  ever  see  the 
same  event  exactly  alike.  Especially  an  important 
event  on  which  we  would  like  to  have  all  the  details. 
But  all  the  observers  agree  that  Nicholas  walked  out 
of  the  palace  and  entered  the  waiting  motor  car  with 
the  calm  manner  of  a  man  about  to  take  a  pleasure 
drive.  Alexandra  did  the  same.  She  walked  with- 
out assistance,  having  apparently  recovered  her  shat- 
tered health.  The  former  Czarevitch,  in  a  sailor 
suit  and  cap,  danced  ahead  of  his  parents,  in  pleased 
anticipation  of  a  journey,  and  the  young  grand  duch- 
esses also  appeared  in  high  spirits.     They  are  ex- 


138     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

tremely  handsome  girls,  all  of  them,  and  people 
rather  sympathetically  observed  that  during  their 
illness  in  February  they  had  all  had  their  luxuriant 
hair  cut  short. 

Some  of  the  observers  say  that  the  former  Czar 
drove  to  the  station  alone,  others  say  Kerensky  fol- 
lowed him  into  the  car  and  still  others  say  that  the 
family  went  together.  Some  say  that  Nicholas  wore 
the  uniform  of  a  Russian  army  officer,  others  par- 
ticularly noticed  his  gray  suit.  To  some  he  looked 
dejected  and  tearful,  and  to  others  careless  and  cold. 
Some  saw  tears  in  his  eyes  when  he  entered  the  train, 
others  marveled  at  the  calmness  with  which  he  shook 
hands  with  members  of  the  provisional  government 
who  were  on  the  platform.  To  this  day  we  do  not 
know  whether  Louis  XVI.  laid  his  head  on  the  block 
quietly  or  fought  the  headsman  all  over  the  place,  al- 
though several  thousand  Frenchmen  witnessed  the 
execution. 

It  is  said  that  the  Emperor  left  Tsarskoe  under 
the  impression  that  he  was  being  taken  to  Livadia, 
the  beautiful  Crimean  estate  toward  which  he 
yearned  at  the  time  of  his  abdication.  He  must  have 
been  profoundly  shocked  when  he  learned  that  in- 
stead he  was  speeding  toward  one  of  the  bleakest  and 
dreariest  spots  in  Siberia.  Before  the  train  left  the 
Emperor  is  said  to  have  asked  Kerensky,  who  accom- 
panied him  to  the  last,  if  the  family  would  ever  be 
allowed  to  return  to  Tsarskoe  Selo.  If  he  did, 
Kerensky' s  reply  must  have  been  evasive,  for  Nicho- 
las told  one  of  his  suite,  or  is  said  to  have  done  so, 
that  he  expected  to  return  after  the  war. 

The  Empress,  when  told  that  the  family  was  on 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  ROMANOFFS     139 

its  way  to  Tobolsk,  is  reputed  to  have  smiled  coldly 
and  said :  "I  am  glad  we  shall  see  Tobolsk.  It  is  a 
place  that  has  dear  associations."  Tobolsk,  or  its 
near  neighborhood,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the 
early  home  of  Rasputin.  Women  of  the  French 
aristocracy  mounted  the  guillotine  with  exactly  such 
speeches  on  their  lips,  a  last  defiance  of  the  mob. 

"Why  are  there  so  many  soldiers  on  this  train?" 
asked  one  of  the  young  grand  duchesses.  She  was 
used  to  being  escorted  by  soldiers,  but  the  great 
number  on  this  occasion  excited  her  surprise.  The 
children  all  knew  that  they  were  going  into  exile, 
and  had  been  given  their  choice  of  remaining  with 
relatives  or  going  with  their  parents.  Mme.  Viru- 
bova's  claim  that  the  family  bond  is  strong  was 
borne  out  by  their  unanimous  decision  to  go  wher- 
ever their  father  and  mother  went. 

Mme.  Narychkine,  one  of  the  empress's  faithful 
ladies  in  waiting,  went  with  her,  since  the  provisional 
government  would  not  let  her  have  Mme.  Viru- 
bova  or  even  allow  the  two  friends  to  bid  each  other 
farewell.  Prince  Dolgorouki  was  permitted  to  go 
with  the  Emperor.  The  children  retained  a  gov- 
erness and  the  boy  a  tutor.  Twelve  servants  accom- 
panied the  family. 

According  to  the  depths  of  his  nature  and  under- 
standing, one  feels  a  certain  pity  for  the  former  au- 
tocrat of  all  the  Russias,  or  rejoices  wildly  at  his 
present  plight.  He  had  to  be  exiled,  and  perhaps 
Siberia  was  the  best  place  to  send  him.  But  Siberia 
has  a  large  variety  of  climates  and  places  to  choose 
among,  and  it  seems  to  many  people  that  the  provi- 
sional government  might  have  been  a  little  more  hu- 


i4o    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

mane  in  their  choice  of  a  residence  for  Nicholas 
and  his  family.  Whatever  his  shortcomings,  how- 
ever just  his  punishment,  his  five  children  never 
harmed  anybody,  and  they  deserve  no  punishment. 
According  to  accounts,  every  hour  they  spend  at  To- 
bolsk will  be  a  punishment,  and  their  time  there  will 
be  short,  because  all  of  them  will  probably  die  owing 
to  the  frightful  surroundings. 

Tobolsk  is  a  town  of  about  25,000  inhabitants, 
situated  on  the  Irtish  river,  a  little  sluggish  stream 
that  drains,  or  partially  drains  one  of  the  great 
marshes  of  eastern  Siberia.  The  town  is  built  on  a 
marsh,  and  the  mosquitoes  which  breed  there  are 
said  to  be  of  a  size  and  a  ferocity  unequaled  else- 
where. Malaria  haunts  the  miasmas  of  the  marshy 
forests  that  stretch  for  miles  around  the  town  and 
line  the  river  banks.  The  nearest  railroad  is  300 
versts  distant.  In  winter,  which  endures  eight 
months  of  the  year,  the  place  is  shut  off  from  the 
world.  It  is  as  remote  from  human  association  as 
the  moon.  The  provisional  government  apologizes 
for  Tobolsk  as  a  choice  on  the  ground  of  the  ne- 
cessity for  remoteness. 


,L..Vl 


CHAPTE*  XV 

THE   HtUSE   #F  MARY  AN*  MAKTHA 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  when  Nicholas  II., 
deposed  emperor  and  autocrat  of  all  the  Russias, 
with  his  wife  and  children  left  Tsarskoe  Selo  and 
began  the  long  journey  toward  their  place  of  exile 
in  Siberia,  I  sat  in  a  peaceful  convent  room  in  Mos- 
cow and  talked  with  almost  the  last  remaining  mem- 
ber of  the  royal  family  left  in  complete  freedom  in 
the  empire.  This  was  Elisabeta  Feodorovna,  sister 
of  the  former  empress  and  widow  of  the  Grand 
Duke  Serge,  uncle  of  the  emperor.  The  Grand 
Duke  Serge  was  assassinated,  blown  to  pieces  by  a 
bomb,  almost  before  the  eyes  of  his  wife,  by  a  revo- 
lutionist on  February  4  old  style,  1905.  He  was 
killed  when  going  to  join  the  Grand  Duchess  in  one 
of  the  churches  of  the  Kremlin  in  Moscow.  She 
rushed  out  and  saw  his  mutilated  remains  lying  in 
the  snow.  The  Grand  Duchess  Serge  had  long  been 
known  as  a  noble  and  saintly  woman,  and  her  con- 
duct following  the  horrible  death  of  her  husband 
perfectly  illustrates  her  character.  She  besought  the 
Czar  to  commute  the  death  sentence  passed  upon  the 
assassin,  and  when  he  refused  she  went  to  the  prison 
where  the  wretched  man  waited  his  death,  gained 
admission  to  his  cell,  and  almost  to  the  end  prayed 
with  him  and  comforted  him.    No  children  had  ever 

141 


i42     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

been  born  to  her,  and  after  the  event  which  cut  the 
last  tie  that  bound  her  to  the  life  of  royal  pomp 
and  glitter  she  retired  from  society  and  gave  herself 
up  to  religion.  As  soon  as  possible  she  became  a 
nun.  Her  private  fortune,  to  the  last  rouble,  invest- 
ments, palaces,  furniture,  art  treasures,  jewels,  mo- 
tor cars,  sables  and  other  fine  raiment  were  turned 
into  cash  and  the  money  used  to  build  a  convent 
and  to  found  an  order  of  which  she  became  the  lady 
abbess.  The  Grand  Duchess  Serge  literally  obeyed 
the  edict  of  Christ  to  the  rich  young  man:  "Sell  all 
thou  hast  and  give  it  to  the  poor." 

The  Convent  of  Mary  and  Martha,  of  the  Order 
of  Mercy  in  Moscow,  is  a  living  token  of  her  great 
sacrifice.  Here  for  the  past  eight  years  she  has 
lived  and  worked  among  her  nuns,  at  least  one  of 
whom  was  a  court  lady,  and  many  of  whom  are 
women  from  the  intellectual  classes.  Some  of  the 
nuns  were  from  humble  households,  for  the  order 
is  perfectly  democratic.  Every  one  who  enters  the 
House  of  Mary  and  Martha  does  so  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  her  life  is  to  be  spent  in  service, 
spiritual  service  such  as  Mary  of  the  Gospels  gave, 
and  material  service  such  as  the  practical  Martha 
rendered  her  Lord.  The  somewhat  dreamy  and 
passive  Russians  will  tell  you  that  Elisabeta  Feodo- 
rovna's  convent  is  one  of  the  most  efficient  institu- 
tions in  the  empire,  and  they  usually  add:  "They 
say  she  makes  her  nuns  work  terribly  hard." 

When  the  days  of  revolution  came,  in  February, 
1917,  a  great  mob  went  to  the  House  of  Mary  and 
Martha,  battered  the  gates  open  and  swarmed  up 
the  convent  steps  demanding  admission.     The  door 


Alexander  Feodorovitch  Kerensky. 


THE  HOUSE  OF  MARY  AND  MARTHA     143 

opened  and  a  tall,  grave  woman  in  a  pale  silver- 
gray  habit  and  white  veil  stepped  out  into  the  porch 
and  asked  the  mob  what  it  wanted. 

uWe  want  that  German  woman,  that  sister  of  the 
German  spy  in  Tsarskoe  Selo,"  yelled  the  mob. 
"We  want  the  Grand  Duchess  Serge." 

Tall  and  white,  like  a  lily,  the  woman  stood  there. 
"I  am  the  Grand  Duchess  Serge,"  she  replied  in  a 
clear  voice  that  floated  above  the  clamor.  "What 
do  you  want  with  me?" 

"We  have  come  to  arrest  you,"  they  shouted. 

"Very  well,"  was  the  calm  reply.  "If  you  want 
to  arrest  me  I  shall  have  to  go  with  you,  of  course. 
But  I  have  a  rule  that  before  I  leave  the  convent  for 
any  purpose  I  always  go  into  the  church  and  pray. 
Come  with  me  into  the  church,  and  after  I  have 
prayed  I  will  go  with  you." 

She  turned  and  walked  across  the  garden  to  the 
church,  the  mob  following.  As  many  as  could  crowd 
into  the  small  building  followed  her  there.  Before 
the  altar  door  she  knelt,  and  her  nuns  came  and 
knelt  around  her  weeping.  The  Grand  Duchess  did 
not  weep.  She  prayed  for  a  moment,  crossed  her- 
self, then  stood  up  and  stretched  her  hands  to  the 
silent,  staring  mob. 

"I  am  ready  to  go  now,"  she  said. 

But  not  a  hand  was  lifted  to  take  Elisabeta  Feo- 
dorovna.  What  Kerensky  could  not  have  done, 
what  no  police  force  in  Russia  could  have  done  with 
those  men  that  day,  her  perfect  courage  and  humil- 
ity did.  It  cowed  and  conquered  hostility,  it  dis- 
persed the  mob.  That  great  crowd  of  liberty-drunk, 
blood-mad  men  went  quietly  home,  leaving  a  guard 


144    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

to  protect  the  convent.  It  is  probably  the  only 
spot  in  Russia  to-day  where  absolute  inviolability 
may  be  said  to  exist  for  any  members  of  the  hated 
"bourju,"  as  the  Bolsheviki  call  the  intellectual 
classes. 

On  the  August  day  when  I  rang  the  bell  of  the 
convent's  massive  brown  gate  I  did  not  really  know 
that  I  was  to  see  and  speak  with  the  grand  duchess. 
Mr.  William  L.  Cazalet,  of  Moscow,  the  friend 
who  took  me  there,  doubted  very  much  whether  I 
could  be  received  thus  informally,  without  a  previ- 
ous appointment.  The  gravity  of  the  times,  and  es- 
pecially the  situation  of  the  Romanoff  family,  placed 
the  Grand  Duchess  Serge  in  a  position  of  extreme 
delicacy,  and  Mr.  Cazalet  said  frankly  that  he  ex- 
pected to  find  her  living  in  strict  retirement.  The 
best  he  could  promise,  he  said,  was  that  I  should  see 
the  convent,  where  one  of  his  young  cousins  was  a 
nun. 

The  convent,  which  is  situated  in  the  heart  of 
Moscow,  is  a  group  of  white  stone  and  stucco  houses 
built  around  an  old  garden  and  surrounded  by  a  high 
white  wall,  over  which  vines  and  foliage  ramble  and 
fall.  A  key  turned,  the  brown  gate  swung  open  to 
our  ring  and  we  stepped  into  a  garden  running  over 
with  the  richest  bloom.  I  remember  the  pink  and 
white  sweet-peas  against  the  wall,  the  white  ma- 
donna lilies  that  nodded  below  and  the  carpet  of 
gay  verbenas  that  ran  along  the  pathway  to  the  con- 
vent door.  There  were  many  old  apple  trees  and  a 
forest  of  lilacs,  purple  and  white. 

In  her  small  room,  combination  of  office  and 
living   room,   we   were   received  by  the   executive 


THE  HOUSE  OF  MARY  AND  MARTHA    145 

head  of  the  convent,  Mme.  Gardeeve,  for  many 
years  the  intimate  friend  of  Elisabeta  Feodorovna. 
Like  the  grand  duchess  she  had  had  a  life  full  of 
tears  and  tribulation,  in  spite  of  her  rank  and 
wealth,  and  when  the  grand  duchess  took  the  veil 
she  followed  her  example  and  became  a  nun.  The 
business  of  the  convent  is  transacted  under  her 
direction,  and  most  ably,  I  was  told.  Efficiency  and 
ability  are  written  in  every  feature  of  Mme.  Gar- 
deeve's  fine  face,  in  her  crisp,  clear  voice  and  quick 
though  graceful  movements.  Her  enunciation  was 
a  joy  to  hear,  an  especial  joy  to  me,  for  I  have  diffi- 
culty in  understanding  the  rather  indistinct  French 
spoken  by  the  average  Russian.  Mme.  Gardeeve's 
French  was  of  that  perfect  kind  you  hear  spoken 
in  Tours  more  often  than  in  Paris  or  elsewhere.  I 
understood  every  word.  Woman  of  the  world  to 
her  finger  tips,  Mme.  Gardeeve  wore  the  pictur- 
esque habit  of  the  order  with  the  same  grace  that 
she  would  have  worn  the  latest  creation  of  the 
ateliers.  She  smiled  and  chatted  with  Mr.  Cazalet, 
who  is  very  well  known  in  the  convent,  and  was 
most  kind  and  cordial  to  me.  After  a  few  minutes' 
conversation  my  friend  said  to  her  that  I  had  told 
him  some  extremely  interesting  things  about  public 
schools  in  America,  and  he  wanted  me  to  repeat 
them  to  her. 

So  I  told  her  something  about  the  extraordinary 
experiments  that  have  been  worked  out  in  Gary, 
Indiana,  and  the  work  that  was  being  done  in  New 
York  and  elsewhere  to  give  children,  rich  and  poor 
alike,  the  complete  education  they  merit.  As  I 
talked  she  exclaimed  from  time  to  time:  "But  it  is 


i46     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

excellent !  I  find  it  admirable  !  The  Grand  Duchess 
should  hear  of  this!" 

I  said  hopefully  that  I  would  like  very  much  to 
meet  the  Grand  Duchess  and  she  replied  she  thought 
it  might  be  arranged.  Not  to-day,  however,  as  the 
Grand  Duchess's  time  was  completely  filled.  How 
long  did  I  expect  to  remain  in  Moscow?  A  week? 
It  could  certainly  be  arranged,  she  thought.  Mean- 
while what  would  I  like  to  see  of  the  convent? 
Everything?  She  laughed  and  touched  a  little  bell 
on  the  desk  beside  her.  A  little  nun  appeared  and 
Mme.  Gardeeve  handed  me  over  to  her  with  orders 
that  I  was  to  see  everything. 

I  saw  a  small  but  perfectly  equipped  hospital, 
with  an  operating  room  complete  in  all  its  details. 
The  hospital  had  been  devoted  to  poor  women  and 
children  before  the  war.  Now  most  of  the  wards 
are  filled  with  wounded  soldiers.  I  saw  a  room 
filled  with  blinded  soldiers  who  were  being  taught 
to  read  Braille  type  by  sweet-faced  nuns.  Blindness 
is  bitter  hard  for  any  man,  but  for  illiterates  it  must 
be  blank  despair.  I  saw  a  house  full  of  refugee  nuns 
from  the  invaded  districts  of  Poland.  I  saw  an 
orphanage  full  of  slain  soldiers'  children.  I  lin- 
gered long  in  the  lovely  garden  where  nuns  were 
at  work,  some  with  their  habits  tucked  up,  among 
the  potato  rows,  some  pruning  trees  and  hedges, 
some  sweeping  the  gravel  paths  with  besoms  made 
of  twigs,  some  teaching  the  orphan  girls  to  embroi- 
der at  big  frames,  to  knit  and  to  sew.  They  made  a 
fascinating  picture,  and  I  could  hardly  leave  them 
even  to  see  the  church,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  small  gems  of  architecture  to  be  found 


THE  HOUSE  OF  MARY  AND  MARTHA    147 

in  Europe.  I  never  really  saw  that  church  at  all, 
as  it  turned  out,  for  just  as  we  entered  and  I  was 
getting  a  first  impression  of  its  blue  and  white  and 
gold  beauty,  a  messenger  hastily  opened  the  door 
and  said  that  the  Grand  Duchess  wanted  to  see  me. 

We  went  back  to  the  convent  and  I  was  taken 
to  a  tiny  parlor,  which  is  the  private  retreat  of  the 
Lady  Abbess.  It  is  not  much  bigger  than  a  hall  bed- 
room, and  it  gave  the  same  general  impression  of 
blue  and  white  and  gold  that  one  sees  throughout 
the  place.  There  were  many  books  bound  in  the 
lapis  blue  which  seems  to  be  the  Grand  Duchess's 
favorite  color;  a  few  pictures,  mostly  of  the 
Madonna  and  Child;  some  small  tables,  one  with 
Stephen  Graham's  book,  "The  House  of  Mary  and 
Martha,"  held  open  upon  it  by  a  piece  of  embroi- 
dery carelessly  dropped.  There  were  easy  chairs 
of  English  willow  with  blue  cushions,  and  a  business- 
like little  desk  crammed  with  papers.  Everywhere, 
in  the  window,  on  tables  and  the  desk,  were  bowls 
and  vases  of  flowers.  Every  room  in  the  place,  in 
fact,  was  filled  with  flowers. 

The  door  opened  and  the  Grand  Duchess  came 
in  with  a  radiant  smile  of  welcome  and  a  white 
hand  outstretched.  "I  am  so  glad  to  find  that  I 
had  time  to  meet  you  to-day,  Mrs.  Dorr,"  she  said, 
in  a  rarely  sweet  voice. 

"Your  highness  speaks  English?"  I  exclaimed  in 
surprise,  and  she  replied,  waving  me  to  a  comfort- 
able armchair:  "Why  not?  My  mother  was 
English." 

I  had  forgotten  for  the  moment  that  the  Grand 
Duchess  and  her  younger  sister,  the  former  Empress 


148    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

of  Russia,  were  daughters  of  the  Princess  Alice  of 
England  and  granddaughters  of  Queen  Victoria. 
Russia  seemed  to  have  forgotten  it  also  and  to  have 
remembered  only  that  the  father  of  these  women 
was  the  Grank  Duke  of  Hesse  and  the  Rhine.  The 
Grand  Duchess  added  when  we  were  seated  that 
when  she  was  a  child  at  home  they  always  spoke 
English  to  their  mother,  if  German  to  their  father. 
"I  welcome  an  opportunity  to  speak  English,  be- 
cause if  one  is  wholly  Russian,  as  I  am,  and  espe- 
cially if  one  is  orthodox,  he  hears  little  except  Rus- 
sian or  French. "  Then  she  said,  with  another  ra- 
diant smile:  "Tell  me  what  you  think  of  my  con- 
vent." 

I  told  her  that  I  felt  as  though  I  had  stepped 
back  into  the  glowing  and  romantic  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. 

"That  is  just  what  I  wanted  my  convent  to  be," 
she  replied,  "one  of  those  busy,  useful  medieval 
types.  Such  convents  were  wonderfully  efficient 
aids  to  civilization  in  the  middle  ages,  and  I  don't 
think  they  should  have  been  allowed  to  disappear. 
Russia  needs  them,  certainly,  the  kind  of  convent 
that  fills  the  place  between  the  austere,  enclosed  or- 
ders and  the  life  of  the  outside  world.  We  read  the 
newspapers  here,  we  keep  track  of  events  and  we 
receive  and  consult  with  people  in  active  life.  We 
are  Marys,  but  we  are  Marthas  as  well." 

The  Grand  Duchess's  interest  in  the  outside  world 
is  patent.  She  asked  me  eagerly  to  tell  her  how 
things  were  going  in  Petrograd,  and  her  face  sad- 
dened when  I  told  her  of  the  riotous  and  bloody 
events  I  had  witnessed  during  the  days  of  the  July 


THE  HOUSE  OF  MARY  AND  MARTHA     149 

revolution,  scarcely  past.  "Times  are  very  bad 
with  us  just  now,"  she  said,  "but  they  will  improve 
soon,  I  am  sure.  The  Russian  people  are  good  and 
kind  at  heart,  but  they  are  mostly  children — big, 
ignorant,  impulsive  children.  If  they  can  find  good 
leaders,  and  if  they  will  only  realize  that  they  must 
obey  their  leaders,  they  will  emerge  from  this  dread- 
ful chaos  and  build  up  a  strong,  new  Russia.  Have 
you  seen  Kerensky,  and  what  do  you  think  of  him?" 

I  replied  rather  cautiously.  Like  every  one  else, 
I  still  hoped  that  Kerensky  would  succeed  in  getting 
his  released  giant  back  into  its  bottle,  and  I  did  not 
want  to  unsettle  any  one's  confidence  in  him  even  to 
the  extent  of  an  expressed  doubt.  Kerensky,  I  told 
her,  was  greatly  admired  and  liked,  and  I  hoped  he 
might  prove  the  strong  leader  Russia  needed  in  her 
trouble. 

"I  hope  so,"  replied  the  last  of  the  Romanoffs, 
"I  pray  for  him  every  day." 

The  bells  of  the  little  church  chimed  the  hour 
softly,  and  the  Grand  Duchess  paused  to  cross  her- 
self devoutly.  "I  want  to  hear  about  those  wonder- 
ful public  schools  of  yours,"  she  said,  "but  first  tell 
me  what  America  is  doing  in  war  preparation." 

As  I  talked  she  listened,  nodding  and  smiling  as  if 
immensely  pleased.  The  great  airplane  fleet  in  course 
of  construction  seemed  to  amaze  and  delight  her, 
and  when  I  told  her  of  the  conservation  of  the  food 
supply  and  the  restriction  of  the  manufacture  of 
alcohol  she  fairly  glowed.  "America  is  simply  stu- 
pendous," she  exclaimed.  "How  I  regret  that  I 
never  went  there.  Of  course  I  never  shall  now. 
To  me  the  United  States  stands  for  order  and  effi- 


150    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

ciency  of  the  best  kind.  The  kind  of  order  only 
a  free  people  can  create.  The  kind  I  pray  may  be 
built  some  day  here  in  Russia. "  And  then  she  made 
her  one  allusion  to  the  deposed  Czar.  I  did  not 
know  that  at  that  minute  the  Czar  was  on  his  way 
to  Siberia,  but  it  is  very  probable  that  she  knew  it. 
She  said:  "I  am  glad  you  are  going  to  protect  your 
soldiers  from  the  danger  of  the  drink  evil.  Nobody 
can  possibly  know  how  much  good  the  abolition  of 
vodka  did  our  soldiers  and  all  our  people.  I  think 
history  should  give  the  Emperor  credit  for  his  share 
in  that  act,  don't  you?"  I  agreed  that  the  Emperor 
should  receive  full  credit  for  what  he  did,  and  I 
spoke  with  all  sincerity. 

Elisabeta  Feodorovna  kept  me  for  nearly  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  talking  to  her  about  the  Gary 
schools,  which  she  is  eager  to  see  in  Russia;  about 
American  women  and  their  part  in  the  war,  and 
about  welfare  work  for  children,  especially  for 
tubercular  and  anemic  children.  "It  is  wonderful," 
she  said  with  a  sigh.  "I  can  scarcely  help  envying 
you  sinfully.  Think  of  a  great,  young,  hurrying 
nation  that  can  still  find  time  to  study  all  these 
frightful  problems  of  poverty  and  disease,  and  to 
grapple  with  them.  I  hope  you  will  go  on  doing 
that,  and  still  find  more  and  more  ways  of  bringing 
beauty  into  the  lives  of  the  workers.  How  can  you 
expect  workmen  who  toil  all  day  in  hot,  hideous 
factories  or  on  remote  farms,  with  nothing  in  their 
lives  but  work  and  worry,  to  have  beauty  in  their 
souls?" 

She  wanted  eagerly  to  know  about  the  women 
soldiers,  and  said  that  she  greatly  admired  their 


The  Grand  Duchess  EHzabeta  Feodorovna,  sister  of  the  late  Czarina, 

and  widow  of  the  Grand  Duke  Serge  (who  was  assassinated 

during  the  Revolution  of  1905),  now  Abbess  of  the 

House  of  Mary  and  Martha  at  Moscow. 


THE  HOUSE  OF  MARY  AND  MARTHA     151 

heroism.  What  was  their  life  in  camp  like,  and 
were  they  strong  enough  to  stand  the  hardships? 
The  Grand  Duchess  Serge  is  a  good  feminist  and 
she  agreed  with  me  that  in  Russia's  crisis,  as  in  the 
situation  in  all  countries  created  by  the  war,  it  had 
been  completely  demonstrated  that  women  would 
have  henceforth  to  play  a  role  equally  important 
and  equally  prominent  as  that  of  men. 

They  would  have  to  share  equally  with  men  in 
the  successful  operation  of  the  war  whether  on  the 
battlefield  or  behind  the  lines.  She  had  always  had 
a  special  devotion  to  Jeanne  d'Arc  and  believed  her 
to  have  been  inspired  by  God.  Other  women  also 
had  been  called  of  God  to  do  great  things. 

"I  am  glad  you  like  my  convent,"  she  repeated  as 
we  parted.  "Please  come  again.  You  know  that 
it  does  not  belong  to  me  any  more,  but  to  the  Pro- 
visional Government,  but  I  hope  they  will  let  me 
keep  it." 

I  hope  they  will.  The  House  of  Mary  and  Mar- 
tha, with  the  beautiful  woman  in  it,  is  one  of  the 
things  new  Russia  can  least  afford  to  lose. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  TAyARISHI   FACE   FAMINE 

The  Romanoffs  gone,  the  Soviets  apparently 
yielding  to  Kerensky's  demand  for  a  coalition  gov- 
ernment, and  finally  voting  to  give  him  almost 
supreme  power,  what  then  stood  in  the  way  of  re- 
storing order  in  the  army  and  civil  life?  Readers 
of  the  despatches  in  the  daily  press  last  September 
and  later  must  have  puzzled  over  this  question.  The 
fact  is  that  while  there  were  indications  that  the 
last  convention  held  in  Petrograd  by  the  Russian 
Socialists,  the  so-called  Democratic  Council,  ended 
in  a  partial  victory  for  Kerensky,  there  remained 
every  evidence  that  the  Bolshevik  element  was  still 
very  strong.  Kerensky  succeeded  in  forming  a  coal- 
ition ministry,  but  the  Petrograd  Council  of  Soldiers' 
and  Workmen's  Delegates  at  the  same  time  succeed- 
ed in  electing  a  Bolshevik  central  executive  com- 
mittee with  the  notorious  Leo  Trotzky  as  chair- 
man, displacing  N.  C.  Tcheidse,  the  Georgian 
Duma  member,  prominent  in  the  Council,  but 
against  whose  sincerity  and  honesty  I  never  heard  a 
word. 

Trotzky  was  elected  because  the  Bolsheviki 
couldn't  then  get  Lenine  back.  There  were  not 
enough  bold  spirits  in  the  Democratic  Council  to 
force  from  the  government  a  promise  of  immunity 

152 


THE  TAVARISHI  FACE  FAMINE         153 

from  arrest  for  Lenine,  should  he  appear  at  a  meet- 
ing, so  he  was  kept  in  the  background  and  Trotzky 
was  made  chairman  of  the  Petrograd  executive  com- 
mittee in  his  stead. 

Lenine  is  the  real  leader  of  the  Bolsheviki  to- 
day, exactly  as  he  was  during  the  fateful  days  of 
July  when  he  sent  mutinous  soldiers  and  idle  work- 
men out  on  the  streets  of  the  capital  with  machine 
guns  to  murder  the  populace.  Trotzky,  however, 
is  an  able  and  faithful  lieutenant.  He  is  a  Jew  and 
his  real  name  is  Braunstein.  He  is  one  of  those 
Jews,  unhappily  too  prominent  in  Russian  affairs 
just  now,  who  are  doing  everything  in  their  power 
to  prejudice  the  people  of  Russia  against  the  race, 
and  to  check  the  movement  for  the  full  freedom  of 
the  Jews  of  the  empire. 

Trotzky,  or  Braunstein,  is  known  to  many  in  New 
York  city.  He  gained  some  newspaper  publicity 
when  he  arrived  in  New  York  from  Spain  a  short 
time  before  the  February  revolution.  He  posed 
as  a  martyr  to  socialist  principles,  one  who  had  been 
persecuted  by  the  governments  of  four  countries — 
Russia,  Germany,  France  and  Spain.  All  four  had 
expelled  him,  he  said,  for  the  crime  of  editing  really 
successful  socialist  newspapers.  Trotzky's  story  was 
founded  on  fact.  At  least,  four  countries  did  find 
him  as  a  citizen  too  undesirable  to  retain.  Banish- 
ment from  Russia,  under  the  old  regime,  is  no 
stigma,  so  we  may  begin  Trotzky's  saga  in  August, 
1 9 14,  the  early  days  of  the  world  war.  He 
was  editing  a  Jewish  paper  in  Berlin.  He  was  given 
a  few  hours  to  leave,  he  says,  and  with  his  family 
fled  across  the  Swiss  frontier  to  Zurich.    From  there 


154    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION' 

he  went  to  Paris,  where  he  was  miraculously  able, 
poor  as  he  had  always  been  and  high  as  the  price  of 
white  paper  was  soaring,  to  establish  a  socialist 
newspaper  in  the  Russian  language.  When  the  Rus- 
sian contingent  of  the  allied  armies  reached  France 
in  April,  191 6,  Our  Words,  which  was  the  name 
of  Trotzky's  spicy  little  sheet,  was  circulated  free 
among  the  65,000  soldiers.  The  motto  of  the  paper 
was  "Down  with  the  War"  far  more  than  it  was 
"Up  with  Socialism."  It  was  filled  from  page  one 
to  page  four  with  the  sort  of  pro-German  stuff  that 
has  done  its  deadly  work  with  the  men  at  the  Russian 
front,  inducing  them  to  refuse  to  fight  and  thus  open- 
ing their  country  to  the  German  army. 

The  French  government,  which  had  its  hands  full 
with  its  own  pet  sedition  raisers,  had  never  before 
heard  of  Trotzky,  but  now  it  told  him  to  move  on. 
He  did.  He  went  to  Spain,  where  he  was  arrested 
as  an  extreme  trouble-maker,  and  after  a  short  time 
expelled  from  the  country.  He  came  to  the  United 
States,  where  he  remained  until  the  Russian  revolu- 
tion of  late  February,  19 17,  when  he  flew  back  to 
Petrograd.  Trotzky  always  had  money  to  make 
these  long  journeys.  At  Halifax  he  was  halted,  for 
the  English  government  knew  his  record.  The  Eng- 
lish authorities  considered  interning  him  for  the  du- 
ration of  the  war,  but  a  lot  of  people  interceded  for 
the  poor  Russian  exile,  and  he  was  allowed  to  go  on 
to  Russia.    Poor  Russia ! 

Trotzky  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Petrograd 
Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates,  be- 
ing a  pacifist  and  never  having  done  any  manual 
work.    Last  summer  when  I  was  in  Russia  I  used  to 


THE  TAVARISHI  FACE  FAMINE  155 

read  almost  daily  in  the  accounts  of  the  National 
Council  of  Soviets,  or  councils,  burning  speeches  of 
Trotzky's  in  which  he  urged  a  separate  peace  with 
Germany,  or  what  would  amount  to  exactly  the  same 
thing,  Russia's  immediate  cessation  of  fighting. 
Trotzky  ridiculed  the  idea  that  abandonment  of  the 
allies  would  in  any  way  injure  Russia  in  a  material 
way  or  soil  the  national  honor.  His  ideas  of  eco- 
nomics and  finance  were  simply  and  frequently  reiter- 
ated. Arrest  all  capitalists  and  force  them  to  dis- 
close the  secret  of  how  they  got  rich,  and  hang  all 
the  bankers — presumably  as  the  first  step  toward 
seizing  the  contents  of  the  banks.  With  this  man 
as  chairman  of  the  central  executive  committee  of 
the  Petrograd  Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers' 
Council,  and  with  the  October  revolt  of  the  German 
naval  men  on  five  ships  for  him  to  point  to  as  evi- 
dence that  the  social  revolution  is  at  hand  in  Ger- 
many, the  life  of  the  last  coalition  government  was 
not  likely  to  be  peaceful. 

But  the  end  of  the  Bolsheviki  is  in  sight  in  spite 
of  Lenine,  Trotzky  and  the  entire  majority  in  the 
Council  of  Soldiers'  and  Workmen's  Delegates.  It 
has  been  coming  on  stealthy  feet  for  many  months, 
and  now  the  messengers'  hands  are  on  the  latch. 
The  messengers'  names  are  Hunger  and  Cold. 

When  I  went  down  to  my  first  dinner  in  Petro- 
grad last  May,  I  was  amazed  to  see  the  price  on 
the  menu  card  placed  at  five  rubles  fifty  kopecks, 
about  $1.80.  In  a  previous  visit  to  Petrograd  I  had 
eaten  an  excellent  dinner  in  this  same  hotel  and  had 
paid  for  it  one  ruble  seventy-five  kopecks,  or  about 
seventy-five  cents,  as  the  ruble  was  then  valued.    The 


156    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

one  offered  for  more  than  twice  this  amount  con- 
sisted of  a  watery  soup,  a  small  piece  of  not  very 
fresh  fish,  a  thin  slice  of  veal  with  peas  and  a  water 
ice  flavored  with  cherry  juice.  One  piece  of  black 
bread  without  butter  was  served.  If  I  wanted  water 
to  drink  with  the  meal  I  had  to  pay  two  rubles  for 
bottled  water,  for  one  drink  of  plain  water  in  Petro- 
grad  is  an  attempt  at  suicide  by  the  typhoid  route. 
If  I  wanted  coffee  I  had  to  pay  one  ruble  sixty-five 
kopecks  more,  and  after  I  added  the  customary  10 
per  cent,  for  the  tip  my  check  was  ten  rubles  and  six 
kopecks.    Three  dollars  and  thirty-five  cents. 

This  was  bad  enough,  but  before  I  left  Russia 
the  price  of  that  meager  meal  had  advanced  to  thir- 
teen rubles  and  the  quality  of  the  dinner  had  sensibly 
declined.  Also  the  tip  had  advanced,  for  after  a 
strike  of  waiters  a  system  was  adopted  all  over  Rus- 
sia, as  far  as  I  traveled,  whereby  tips  were  abolished 
and  15  per  cent,  was  added  to  the  bill  by  the  hotel 
and  restaurant  proprietors. 

You  now  pay  an  additional  15  per  cent,  of  your 
entire  hotel  bill  in  Russia,  which  is  distributed  in 
tips  to  all  the  servants  except  the  lift  boys  and  the 
gorgeous  individual  who  stands  in  front  of  the  hotel 
door,  who  assists  you  to  alight  from  your  droshky 
when  you  arrive,  and  touches  his  peacock  feather 
trimmed  hat  to  you  when  you  go  in  and  out.  He  is 
called  the  Swiss,  denoting  the  origin  of  his  earliest 
predecessor,  I  imagine,  and  why  he  and  the  elevator 
men  do  not  share  in  the  general  distribution  I  never 
found  out. 

Walk  down  the  Nevsky  Prospect,  or  the  Grand 
Morskaia,  which  begins  in  fine  shops  and  ends  in 


THE  TAVARISHI  FACE  FAMINE  157 

palaces,  like  Fifth  avenue.  Wander  through  the 
maze  of  little  shops  in  the  huge  arcade  called  the 
Gostinny  Dvor.  Go  far  out  on  the  Nevsky,  cross 
the  beautiful  Anitchkoff  bridge,  with  its  four  groups 
of  rearing  horses,  and  turn  in  at  the  Litainy,  where 
the  cheaper  shops  are  to  be  found,  and  try  to  buy 
something.  It  doesn't  matter  what,  just  try  to  buy 
something  to  eat,  drink,  wear  or  use.  When  the 
waiter  brought  in  the  coffee  that  morning  he  said 
cheerfully,  "Niet  malako,"  no  milk.  Try  to  buy  a 
few  cans  of  condensed  milk  against  a  similar  expe- 
rience. I  walked  all  over  Petrograd  trying  to  buy 
condensed  milk,  for  the  shortage  of  fresh  milk  was 
grave  when  I  arrived,  and  grew  steadily  worse.  I 
found  one  can,  for  which  I  paid  two  dollars.  Shortly 
afterward  a  friend  arrived  from  Japan  and  gave 
me  two  cans,  which  she  spared  out  of  her  store. 

Russian  illiteracy  is  so  general  that  the  shop  signs 
are  not  written  but  illustrated.  Brilliant  signboards 
on  the  outside  show  pictures  of  what  the  shopkeeper 
has  to  sell.  A  dairy  shop  will  have  a  picture  of  a 
cow,  crocks  of  butter,  chickens,  ducks,  geese,  baskets 
of  eggs,  cheese  of  many  varieties  and  so  forth.  A 
greengrocer's  signboard  is  decorated  like  a  seed 
catalogue  cover,  while  a  clothing  store  is  advertised 
by  pictures  of  clothes  and  hats  which  were  fashion- 
able perhaps  ten  years  ago.  It  once  added  to  the 
gay  appearance  of  the  streets,  but  just  now  it  in- 
creases their  anxious  and  ominous  air.  Hundreds 
of  the  shops  are  empty,  the  doors  are  locked  and 
the  brilliant  signboards  alone  remain  to  indicate 
that  business  was  ever  conducted  there.  One  of  the 
mournfulest  sights  in  Petrograd  to  me  was  an  aban- 


158    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

doned  shop  where  they  once  sold  French  bread  and 
pastry.  I  used  to  turn  my  head  away  from  the 
mocking  poster,  picturing  crisp  white  bread  in  yard- 
long  loaves,  delicious  breakfast  crescents,  pates  and 
cakes.  The  standard  bread  served  in  Russia  at  the 
present  time  is  black,  soggy,  sour  and  indigestible. 
It  is  sold  by  weight,  hence  loaded  with  water  and 
baked  as  little  as  possible  to  be  bread  and  not  dough. 
Some  one  has  suggested  that  that  bread  was  meant 
for  food  and  drink  together,  and  it  is  certain  that 
it  is  so  wet  that  it  quickly  mildews.  But  bad  as  it  is 
it  is  scarce  and  expensive.  A  bread  ticket  calls  for 
three-quarters  of  a  pound,  the  daily  allotment  per 
person  when  I  left  the  last  of  August.  This  costs 
at  the  rate  of  ten  kopecks  a  pound.  It  used  to  be 
three  and  a  half  kopecks  a  pound,  and  good  bread, 
too. 

Butter,  when  it  can  be  bought  at  all,  was  three 
rubles  a  pound,  about  a  dollar.  Excellent  butter  a 
year  or  two  ago  was  less  than  fifty  kopecks  a  pound, 
for  Russia  was  rapidly  becoming  a  dairy  country. 
Veal,  and  veal  is  about  the  only  meat  to  be  had,  was 
nearly  a  dollar  a  pound.  Feed  for  cattle  is  so  scarce 
and  so  expensive  that  cows  are  not  allowed  to  grow 
into  beef  size,  hence  the  prevalence  of  veal.  Chick- 
ens may  vary  the  menu,  if  you  can  afford  to  pay  from 
three  dollars  upward.  You  could  buy  only  a  short- 
weight  half  pound  of  meat  a  day  per  person,  ex- 
cept for  the  Sunday  dinner,  when  a  pound  was  al- 
lowed. 

Even  at  the  Hotel  Militaire,  where  I  lived  most 
of  the  time,  and  where  the  food  supply  came  from 
government  sources,  we  had  veal  or  its  derivatives, 


THE  TAVARISHI  FACE  FAMINE  159 

hash,  croquettes,  etc.,  five  days  in  the  week.  Some- 
times they  offered  what  they  called  beef,  but  it 
wasn't.  It  was  horsemeat,  coarse  and  strong.  Once 
a  week  or  so  we  had  chicken,  a  welcome  change. 
When  August  came  we  began  to  have  game,  grouse 
of  various  kinds  mostly.  Game  is  very  plentiful  in 
Russia  and  Finland  this  year,  because  since  the  war 
men  have  hunted  only  one  another.  But  game, 
which  is  a  treat  when  you  have  it  occasionally,  is  a 
punishment  when  you  have  it  more  than  once  or  so 
a  week.  You  detest  it  when  it  appears  on  the  table 
three  times  a  week,  and  if  it  appears  oftener  you 
choose  a  meatless  day  as  an  alternative. 

Coffee  was  about  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  pound,  not 
so  bad,  and  tea  was  even  more  moderate  in  price. 
What  the  Russian  people  would  do  if  the  tea  gave 
out  I  cannot  imagine.  Everybody  drinks  tea,  scald- 
ing hot,  several  times  a  day.  Even  the  babies  drink 
tea,  and  it  is  a  fact  that  in  the  best  babies'  hospital 
I  saw  in  Russia  the  head  nurse  proudly  showed  me, 
in  a  hot  water  table,  a  whole  row  of  nursing  bottles 
full  of  tea  for  the  sick  babies'  evening  repast.  Tea 
they  still  have,  but  they  are  almost  out  of  sugar  to 
go  with  it.  In  a  hotel  or  restaurant  they  serve  you 
with  three  very  tiny  lumps  of  sugar  with  each  glass 
[of  tea,  and  that  is  all  you  can  have.  If  for  any 
reason  you  do  not  use  all  your  sugar  you  put  it  in 
your  pocket.  You  do  this  whether  you  keep  house 
or  not,  because  you  can't  buy  much  candy,  and  when 
meat  is  scarce  everybody  craves  sweets. 

Sugar  is  not  the  only  leftover  one  takes  home. 
One  day  I  went  into  the  Vienna  restaurant  on  the 
Gogol  for  dinner,  sitting  down  at  a  table  just  va- 


160    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

cated  by  a  very  smart  young  officer.  He  left  behind 
him  on  the  window  ledge  a  little  parcel  neatly 
wrapped  in  white  paper  with  a  pink  string.  It  might 
have  been  a  jeweler's  parcel.  I  picked  it  up  with 
the  impulse  to  hand  it  over  to  the  waiter,  but  first  as 
a  matter  of  precaution,  lest  it  should  be  really  val- 
uable, I  opened  a  corner  of  the  paper  and  examined 
the  contents.  A  piece  of  fairly  white  bread  as  big 
as  a  small  turnip,  the  remains  of  luncheon,  perhaps, 
at  the  house  of  a  rich  friend.  I  went  into  a  fash- 
ionable tea  place  in  Moscow  just  before  I  left,  and 
they  served  with  the  tea,  in  lieu  of  sugar,  a  kind  of 
sticky  preserve.  I  had  with  my  sugarless  tea  a  cake 
made  without  flour  or  sugar.  It  tasted  like  almond 
paste  and  the  whole  thing  cost  me  a  dollar  and  ten 
cents. 

Most  of  the  shops  are  closed,  but  before  most 
of  those  which  remain  open  you  may  see,  at  any 
hour  of  the  day  or  night,  a  queue  of  people,  men, 
women  and  children,  waiting  to  get  in  and  buy.  The 
people  often  wait  in  line  twenty-four  hours  or  more. 
They  wait  days  to  buy  some  things.  Go  home  from 
a  visit  or  get  in  from  a  journey  at  any  time  of  night, 
midnight,  three  a.  m.,  any  hour,  and  you  see  these 
long,  patient,  waiting  lines  of  people.  They  curl 
up  on  the  stones  of  the  pavement  and  sleep,  mem- 
bers of  a  family  relieve  one  another  at  intervals, 
but  every  one  desperately  hangs  on  to  his  place  in 
the  line. 

Not  only  do  all  the  small  shop  keepers  and  the 
street  peddlers  have  to  replenish  their  poor  little 
stocks  by  standing  thus  for  days,  but  housekeepers 
have  to  feed  and  clothe  their  families  that  way. 


THE  TAVARISHI  FACE  FAMINE  161 

People  who  can  afford  servants,  of  course,  send 
their  servants  to  wait  in  line.  The  daily  newspapers 
often  contain  the  advertisement,  "Wanted  a  queue 
maid,"  meaning  a  woman  whose  sole  duty  it  is  to 
sleep  on  the  sidewalk  and  bring  home  next  day's 
dinner. 

It  was  summer  when  I  was  in  Petrograd  and 
Moscow.  Sleeping  on  the  sidewalk  left  something 
to  be  desired  even  in  warm  weather.  The  first  hint 
of  autumn  was  in  the  air  when  I  left  on  August  30. 
By  the  first  of  October  it  was  cold,  and  by  the  end 
of  November  it  was  frigid.  When  the  storms 
and  the  driving  snows  of  winter  set  in  in  earnest  peo- 
ple will  not  be  able  to  sleep  on  the  sidewalks.  Where 
will  they  get  food,  and  when  starvation  stares  them 
in  the  face  what  will  they  do?  Russia's  real  crisis, 
political  and  economic,  will  come  then,  and  the  Bol- 
sheviki  will  not  be  the  people  to  overcome  it. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

GENERAL  JANUARY,  THE  CONQUEROR 

After  Napoleon  Bonaparte's  defeated  legions 
had  fled  from  Russia  to  freeze  and  starve  and  die 
by  thousands  in  a  frenzied  attempt  to  get  back  to 
France,  the  victorious  commander  of  the  Russian 
army  said  that  his  two  greatest  aides  had  been  Gen- 
eral January  and  General  February.  The  relentless 
cold  and  storm  of  a  Russian  winter  were  foes  too 
strong  for  Bonaparte  to  conquer.  They  sent  him  to 
St.  Helena,  and  the  same  strong  foes  this  winter  are 
going  to  rout  and  banish  the  Bolsheviki.  The  Rus- 
sian revolution  began  with  a  bread  riot  and  it  will 
culminate  in  a  bread  riot.  When  the  people  of  Rus- 
sia get  hungry  enough,  they  are  going  to  stop  talk- 
ing about  "no  annexations  or  contributions,"  "all 
the  power  to  the  Soviets,"  and  the  rest,  and  demand 
a  government  that  shall  govern,  and  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible put  the  country  back  on  a  normal  basis.  When 
the  thermometer  falls  to  45  degrees  below  zero, 
and  a  fifty-miles-an-hour  wind  is  driving  sleet  and 
snow  in  their  faces,  people  can  no  longer  stand 
twenty-four  hours  in  line  to  buy  food  for  their  chil- 
dren. Especially  when  their  clothes  are  thin  and 
worn  and  their  boots  are  dropping  off  their  feet. 

I  have  told  something  about  the  food  situation  in 
Russia.     The  clothing  situation  and  the  fuel  situa- 

162 


GENERAL  JANUARY,  THE  CONQUEROR    163 

tion  are,  if  anything,  worse.  If  you  want  to  buy  a 
pair  of  shoes  in  Petrograd  you  must  take  two  days 
to  do  it  and  you  must  put  much  money  in  your  purse. 
There  is  an  American  shoe  store  on  the  Nevsky 
Prospect  and  every  day  the  line  of  people  trying 
to  get  in  and  buy  shoes  was  so  great  that  it  blocked 
traffic  and  the  city  authorities  finally  had  to  close 
the  street  entrance.  The  line  now  forms  in  a  court 
or  lane  in  the  rear  of  the  store  and  the  customers 
are  admitted,  a  few  at  a  time,  through  the  back  door. 
This  American  shoe  store  is  very  popular  because 
the  shoes  are  of  excellent  quality  and  the  prices  are 
regarded  as  reasonable.  A  woman  can  buy  a  pair  of 
boots  there  as  low  as  $25.  Men's  shoes  are  some- 
what dearer.  But  the  stock  was  running  low  when 
I  was  there  in  the  summer,  and  when  it  gives  out 
I  don't  see  how  they  are  going  to  replenish  it.  On 
a  corner  of  the  Grand  Morskaia  there  was  another 
shoe  store,  in  front  of  which  a  crowd  stood  all  day 
long  and  all  night.  The  queue  extended  around  the 
corner,  and  I  have  seen  it  when  it  stretched  to  the 
Moika  canal  a  very  long  block  away.  This  is  a 
store  where  cheaper  shoes  were  sold.  It  represented 
an  attempt  on  the  part  of  one  of  the  fleeting  minis- 
tries to  relieve  the  shoe  shortage.  Large  quantities 
of  shoes  and  leather  were  purchased  and  were  then 
being  distributed  through  authorized  channels  in  the 
shop  on  the  Morskaia. 

In  order  to  buy  a  pair  of  those  shoes  a  man  or  a 
woman  went  there  and  got  a  place  in  line.  Each 
stood  in  line  until  his  or  her  turn  came  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  shop,  a  long  and  weary  business. 
When  he  gained  admission  to   the   shop   and  the 


164    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

clerk  got  around  to  waiting  on  him  he  received — a 
pair  of  shoes?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  He  got  a  ticket 
with  a  number  on  it.  The  ticket  entitled  the  cus- 
tomer to  come  back  at  some  future  date,  stand  in 
line  and  claim  a  pair  of  shoes  which  were  probably 
at  the  time  being  made — provided  he  could  afford  to 
pay  a  minimum  of  ten  dollars  for  them. 

When  I  was  in  Poland  with  the  women  soldiers, 
the  Botchkareva  Battalion  of  Death,  the  regiment 
was  delayed  in  its  further  progress  toward  the  fight- 
ing line  by  a  dearth  of  boots  in  which  to  march. 
About  half  the  women  soldiers  received  boots  along 
with  their  other  equipment  before  they  left  Petro- 
grad,  but  the  other  half  wore,  with  their  khaki  uni- 
form, the  women's  shoes,  often  worn  and  tattered, 
in  which  they  had  enlisted.  One  day  there  was  great 
rejoicing  in  the  barrack.  The  boots  had  come,  and 
the  rest  of  the  afternoon  was  spent  in  sorting  out 
from  the  pile  a  pair  to  fit  each  girl.  I  was  interested 
in  those  boots,  for  they  were  mute  but  eloquent  wit- 
nesses of  the  poverty  of  life  in  Russia.  Not  a  pair 
was  new.  They  were  all  second-hand,  remade  and 
mended  boots,  and  I  strongly  suspect  that  most  of 
them  had  been  taken  off  the  feet  of  dead  soldiers. 
They  had,  in  many  cases,  new  feet  or  new  soles, 
but  the  majority  of  them  were  merely  mended  and 
patched.  Coarse,  stiff,  malodorous  and  badly  put 
together  as  these  were,  the  girls  were  only  too  glad 
to  get  them.  The  Adjutant,  Skridlova,  and  one  or 
two  of  the  well-to-do  soldiers  had  their  boots  made 
to  order,  and  they  paid  ninety  dollars  a  pair  for 
them.  Seventy-five  dollars  for  a  pair  of  women's 
boots  is  not  an  unheard-of  price. 


GENERAL  JANUARY,  THE  CONQUEROR    165 

What  is  true  of  boots  and  shoes  is  true  of  almost 
every  other  clothing  commodity.  I  ran  out  of  gloves 
while  I  was  in  Russia,  but,  after  hearing  what  gloves 
cost  in  Petrograd,  I  went  without.  You  could  get 
cotton  gloves  as  low  as  a  dollar  and  eighty  cents  a 
pair.  They  were  ugly  and  shapeless,  but  people 
bought  and  wore  them.  If  you  wanted  a  pair  of 
kid  gloves  and  you  knew  where  you  could  find  them 
and  had  time,  you  could  buy  them  for  three  to  five 
dollars.  They  were  the  kind  that  an  American  de- 
partment store  might  put  on  a  table  in  the  center 
aisle  and  sell  for  fifty  cents  to  attract  customers  in 
the  dull  season.  A  man  pays  a  dollar  for  a  fifteen- 
cent  collar  in  Petrograd.  He  pays  several  dollars 
for  a  decent  pair  of  socks.  What  he  pays  for  a  suit 
of  clothes  staggers  the  imagination.  There  are  only 
two  things  that  are  cheap  to  buy  in  Russia  just  now: 
cats  and  dogs.  You  can  buy  a  magnificent  wolf- 
hound or  other  thoroughbred  dog,  or  a  pure  bred 
Persian  or  Angora  cat  for  a  song  in  Petrograd,  be- 
cause people  can't  afford  to  feed  pet  animals.  Mr. 
Basil  Miles,  attached  to  the  Root  mission,  took 
home  with  him  two  Russian  wolfhounds  that  are 
going  to  make  him  the  most  envied  man  in  the  next 
dog  show  in  his  town,  and  the  song  he  sang  to  get 
them  was  too  short  to  mention. 

Russia  is  a  very  cold  country  and  almost  every 
one,  rich  and  poor  alike,  wears  furs.  The  rich  wear 
sable,  mink  and  ermine,  and  the  poor  wear  rabbit 
and  sheep  skin.  But  furs  just  now  are  as  difficult 
to  buy  as  other  clothing  indispensables.  There  are 
several  special  reasons  for  this  shortage  of  fur  in  a 
fur  country.    There  are  not  so  many  people  hunting 


166    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

furs  since  the  war,  and  the  pelts  are  scarcer;  and 
besides,  the  Russians  have  never  cured  and  dyed 
their  own  furs.  They  sent  them  to  Germany  to  be 
prepared  for  market,  and,  of  course,  the  war  put 
a  stop  to  that.  Aside  from  these  special  reasons,  the 
fur  shortage  and  all  the  food,  clothing  and  other 
shortages  are  caused  by  two  main  obstacles.  There 
is  plenty  of  food  in  the  empire,  plenty  of  raw  ma- 
terials for  clothing.  But  the  transportation  system 
has  almost  broken  down  and  they  cannot  distribute 
food  or  raiment.  Also  the  factory  system  has  all 
but  broken  down,  and  they  cannot  produce  the  cloth- 
ing. There  are  besides  minor  and  contributory  ob- 
stacles, some  of  which  I  shall  describe.  The  main 
reason  why  Russia  will  starve  and  freeze  this  win- 
ter is  because  the  people  of  Russia  have  allowed 
their  railroad  system  to  go  to  pieces,  and  because 
they  have,  to  an  almost  incredible  extent,  ceased  to 
do  any  work. 

I  cannot  speak  as  an  expert  about  the  railroad 
situation,  nor  would  mere  figures  and  statistics  give 
the  reader  any  adequate  picture  of  the  railroad  de- 
moralization. To  say  that  on  May  15,  19 17,  the 
then  Minister  of  Ways  and  Communications  re- 
ported to  the  Duma  that  more  than  25  per  cent,  of 
the  total  number  of  locomotives  in  the  empire  were 
laid  up  for  repairs  wouldn't  begin  to  express  the 
thing.  The  average  reader  does  not  know  that  5  per 
cent,  of  "sick"  locomotives  is  considered  high  by 
competent  railroad  managers.  I  might  go  further 
and  say  that  the  number  of  freight  cars  loaded  from 
May  15  to  May  31,  191 7,  was  87,000  poods  less 
than  the  number  loaded  between  those  dates  in  19 16, 


GENERAL  JANUARY,  THE  CONQUEROR    167 

but  that  would  not  mean  much.  Few  outside  of  Rus- 
sia know  what  a  pood  is.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  is 
thirty-six  pounds.  But  figures  cannot  adequately  de- 
scribe the  situation. 

What  told  the  tale  of  railroad  demoralization  to 
me  was  the  constant  anxiety  I  heard  voiced  on  all 
sides  by  people  trying  to  buy  their  winter  stock  of 
wood  and  coal.  There  is  an  endless  quantity  of 
wood  in  Russia.  Great  forests  of  pine  and  cedar 
and  birch — beautiful  forests.  I  had  often  marveled 
at  them  from  the  windows  of  my  railway  carriage 
passing  through  Finland  and  the  country  between 
Petrograd  and  Moscow.  Plenty  of  this  wood  has 
been  cut.  I  saw  thousands  and  thousands  of  cords 
of  it  piled  up  along  the  railroad  tracks,  and  of  course 
there  must  have  been  much  more  elsewhere.  Petro- 
grad is  built  on  a  marsh  and  the  ground  is  drained 
by  picturesque  if  rather  badly  smelling  canals  which 
run  through  the  city  and  empty  into  the  Neva. 
Down  one  of  the  widest  of  these — the  Moika, 
which  I  crossed  every  day — a  constant  line  of  barges, 
loaded  with  wood,  floated  slowly,  drawn  by  horses 
and  sometimes  by  men  walking  along  a  towpath 
beside  the  canal.  I  used  to  watch  those  bargeloads 
of  wood  and  wonder  why,  with  such  an  almost  un- 
paralleled means  of  distributing  wood  after  it  got 
there,  the  people  of  Petrograd  should  be  troubled 
about  the  winter  fuel  supply.  Not  nearly  enough  of 
it  was  getting  there  last  summer ;  that  was  all.  The 
quantity  that  floated  down  the  Moika  and  the  other 
canals  and  got  stacked  up  in  woodyards  and  in  the 
courtyards  of  apartment  houses,  hotels,  hospitals, 
factories  and  even  palaces,  was  not  half  the  normal 


168     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

quantity.  There  weren't  enough  flat  cars  and  loco- 
motives running  to  get  the  wood  as  far  as  the  city 
limits. 

I  tried  the  experiment  of  keeping  house  with  the 
wife  of  the  Outlook  correspondent  after  he  left  Rus- 
sia on  a  mission.  We  had  a  charming  little  apart- 
ment offered  us  rent  free,  with  a  maid  thrown  in, 
if  we  would  live  in  it  and  keep  it  from  being  looted. 
Every  one  who  knew  a  Cossack  or  other  reliable 
soldier,  or  an  American,  did  that  when  they  went  to 
the  country  from  Petrograd.  We  gave  up  house- 
keeping after  a  week  and  went  back  to  hotels,  partly 
because  the  maid  could  not  get  us  enough  to  eat, 
and  partly  because  we  never  had  any  hot  water. 
The  landlord  of  the  apartment  house  had  cut  off 
the  wood.  He  said  that  he  couldn't  get  wood 
enough  to  warm  the  house  next  winter,  much  less 
provide  warm  baths  for  the  tenants  in  summer. 

The  railroad  situation  was  visualized  for  me  on  a 
dreadful  two  days  and  nights'  journey  I  took  on  a 
Russian  railroad  last  July.  Miss  Beatty,  of  the  San 
Francisco  Bulletin,  was  with  me,  and  the  train  was 
so  small  and  so  crowded  that  the  only  berth  we  could 
get  was  an  upper  one  three  feet  wide.  The  two  of 
us  slept  in  that  berth,  Miss  Beatty's  head  one  way 
and  mine  the  other.  Every  time  the  train  struck  a 
rough  place  on  the  rails  the  Bulletin  came  near  los- 
ing its  star  reporter,  for  she  had  the  outside,  just 
above  an  open  window.  That  railway  carriage 
could  have  seated,  by  close  crowding,  eleven  passen- 
gers. On  the  last  night  of  the  journey  twenty-five 
people  were  packed  into  it.  They  took  turns  sitting 
down. 


GENERAL  JANUARY,  THE  CONQUEROR    169 

Every  railroad  train  you  get  on  is  about  as 
crowded  as  that,  and  one  of  the  most  difficult  things 
to  buy  at  present  is  a  railroad  ticket.  To  buy  one 
you  usually  have  to  bribe  the  ticket  agent  or  the 
hotel  manager.  You  go  to  the  office  of  the  Interna- 
tional Wagons-Lits  and  tell  them  that  you  want  to 
go  to  Moscow  or  Kazan.  You  want  to  go  to-mor- 
row or  in  three  days,  some  near  date.  The  clerk 
shakes  his  head.  "I  might  be  able  to  get  you  a  ticket 
and  a  berth  in  three  days,"  he  will  say.  "Of  course, 
you  will  have  to  pay  a  supplement;  say,  sixty  rubles." 
Pressed  for  particulars  he  will  explain  that  some 
one  will  have  to  be  paid  to  stand  in  line  for  the 
ticket.  I  paid  forty  rubles  extra  to  Bennet's,  which 
is  the  Cook's  of  Petrograd,  for  a  ticket  to  Moscow, 
and  that  was  considered  a  bargain.  When  I  wanted 
to  return  I  asked  the  hotel  management  in  Moscow 
how  much  they  would  charge  to  send  to  the  station 
and  get  me  a  ticket,  and  they  said  one  hundred 
rubles.  The  ruble  was  then  about  thirty  cents,  so 
I  would  have  had  to  pay,  in  addition  to  the  cost  of 
the  ticket,  which  had  just  been  raised  about  50  per 
cent.,  thirty  dollars.  I  got  the  ticket  in  almost  the 
only  other  way  possible.  I  acted  as  a  courier  carry- 
ing confidential  papers  from  a  foreign  consulate  in 
Moscow  to  an  embassy  in  Petrograd,  and  the  consul 
used  his  official  influence  to  get  me  a  ticket  for  the 
regular  price  only. 

On  the  2 1  st  of  July  the  Minister  of  Ways  and 
Communications  ordered  a  reduction  of  50  per  cent, 
in  the  number  of  travelers  passing  between  Petrograd 
and  Moscow,  in  view,  he  explained,  of  the  shortage 


170     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

of  fuel  and  rolling  stock.  Soon  it  will  be  next  to 
impossible  to  buy,  for  love  or  money,  a  ticket  or  a 
sleeping  berth  between  the  two  points  in  Russia. 

This  is  nearly  true  now  on  the  Trans-Siberian 
Railroad.  Every  Tuesday  evening  at  8  o'clock  the 
weekly  express  on  that  famous  line  leaves  the  Nikolai 
station,  Petrograd,  and  every  berth  is  filled  every 
week.  What  those  passengers  paid  extra  for  their 
tickets  forms  one  of  the  principal  topics  of  conversa- 
tion during  the  long  trip  over  Siberia.  The  passen- 
gers beguile  the  weary  journey  swapping  experiences 
of  how  they  came  to  be  there  at  all.  I  have  known 
people  who  waited  weeks  for  a  chance  to  pay  the  ex- 
tortionate supplement.  The  Trans-Siberian  post 
train  which  leaves  every  night  and  makes  stops  along 
the  way  is  a  sight  to  behold  before  it  leaves.  The 
people  crowd  the  train  platform  and  fight  for  a  place 
near  the  edge.  As  the  train  backs  slowly  into  the 
station  shed,  the  travelers  run  to  meet  it,  climb  in 
the  windows,  drag  their  women  and  children  in,  rush 
the  platforms  and  fight  like  tigers  to  get  in  the  doors. 
The  number  of  carriages  to  each  train  has  been  re- 
duced gradually  until  now  the  train  is  too  short  to 
hold  the  travelers. 

But  didn't  we  send  a  railroad  commission  to  Rus- 
sia, and  didn't  the  papers  say  something  about  some 
5,000  locomotives  and  23,000  freight  cars  sent  to 
Vladivostock?  We  did  send  a  railroad  commission, 
headed  by  John  Stevens,  of  Panama  canal  fame,  one 
of  the  greatest  organizers  and  executives  in  the 
United  States.     This  commission  has   done  good 


GENERAL  JANUARY,  THE  CONQUEROR     171 

work.  It  has  shown  the  Russians  how  they  could 
immediately  increase  the  efficiency  of  their  railroads 
60  per  cent.  We  have  sent  many  locomotives  and 
freight  cars  to  Russia.  Nevertheless  the  transpor- 
tation problem  remains  unsolved. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

WHEN  THE  WORKERS  OWN  THEIR  TOOLS 

John  Stevens,  head  of  the  railroad  commission 
sent  to  Russia  from  the  United  States,  has  shown 
the  Russian  government  how  to  increase  its  trans- 
portation facilities  sixty  per  cent.  In  a  report  made 
public  in  mid-August  Mr.  Stevens  said  that  the  chief 
cause  of  the  railroad  crisis  was  bad  management. 
Locomotives  traveled  2,800  versts  a  month  when 
they  could  be  made  to  travel  5,000  versts.  A  verst 
is  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile.  Twice  as  much 
freight  as  was  being  hauled  could  be  carried,  said 
Mr.  Stevens.  Freight  cars  were  constantly  being 
sent  out  only  half  loaded.  Mr.  Stevens  recom- 
mended government  dictatorship  of  all  railroads, 
both  publicly  and  privately  owned.  That  was  rather 
naive,  considering  that  the  government  was  power- 
less to  control,  much  less  to  dictate  to,  any  depart- 
ment of  activity  in  the  empire.  A  little  earlier  Mr. 
Nekrassoff,  then  Minister  of  Ways  and  Communica- 
tions, issued  a  circular  in  which  he  outlined  his  plan 
for  coping  with  the  railroad  crisis.  He  advised 
turning  the  entire  railroad  system  over  to  the  work- 
men, the  engineers,  firemen,  conductors  and  machin- 
ists. A  shriek  of  protest  went  up  from  the  engineer- 
ing profession  and  a  howl  of  laughter  arose  from 
the  press  of  Russia.     But  the  fact  of  the  matter  is 

172 


WHEN  WORKERS  OWN  THEIR  TOOLS     173 

that  the  railroads  were  and  are  still,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  in  the  hands  of  the  working  people,  and  so 
is  every  other  industry  in  Russia. 

One  of  the  great  dreams  of  the  socialists  and 
philosophical  anarchists  is  of  the  day  when  the 
worker  shall  own  his  tools,  as  they  put  it,  when  all 
industry  shall  be  owned  by  the  people  who  operate 
the  machines,  and  all  profits  shall  be  shared  by  them. 
It  really  is  a  great  dream,  and  will  probably  be  real- 
ized in  some  measure  some  day.  But  not  now.  The 
human  race  is  not  yet  educated  to  such  a  Utopia. 
The  strongest  proof  that  the  capitalistic  system  is 
not  yet  ready  to  pass  is  the  well-known  fact  that 
the  secret  ambition  of  almost  every  human  being  in 
every  walk  of  life  is  to  become  a  capitalist,  large  or 
small.  This  has  just  been  proved  on  an  enormous 
scale  in  Russia.  The  workers  have  seized  the  fac- 
tories, shops,  department  stores  and  offices,  and  in 
no  instance  of  which  I  could  learn,  and  I  searched 
diligently,  have  they  used  their  great  opportunity 
wisely  or  unselfishly  for  the  common  good.  They 
have  used  it  to  get  all  the  money  possible  out  of  the 
employers  and  to  render  back  the  minimum  of  serv- 
ice. 

This  is  what  is  the  matter  with  the  transporta- 
tion system  in  Russia.  It  is  the  reason  why  the  peo- 
ple of  Petrograd,  Moscow  and  other  cities  will  go 
cold  and  hungry  this  winter,  one  reason  why  the 
death  rate  of  children  and  old  people,  already  ap- 
pallingly large,  will  grow  more  appalling  within  the 
next  few  months;  one  reason,  and  a  very  strong  one, 
why  order  has  not  been  restored  in  Russia.  High 
as  are  the  prices  of  all  food  and  manufactured  arti- 


174     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

cles,  the  working  people,  as  a  class,  have  money 
enough  to  pay  for  them,  and  not  until  the  merchants' 
stocks  are  completely  gone  and  the  weather  gets  too 
cold  to  stand  in  line  long  hours  in  order  to  buy  will 
the  purblind  workers  realize  their  situation.  Not 
until  then  will  they  realize  what  their  selfishness  and 
cruel  folly  have  done  to  themselves  and  the  entire 
working  class  of  the  country. 

So  struck  was  I  by  the  scarceness  of  goods  in  the 
shops  and  the  soaring  prices  of  almost  every  article 
that  I  went  to  the  Minister  of  Labor  and  asked  him 
to  tell  me  something  of  industrial  conditions  of  the 
country.  I  was  not  entirely  ignorant  of  those  con- 
ditions. I  knew,  for  example,  that  Russia  is  not  ex- 
clusively an  agricultural  country,  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, her  development  as  a  manufacturing  country 
has  been  going  on  by  leaps  and  bounds,  especially  in 
the  last  dozen  years.  Russia  has  a  proletariat  and 
a  factory  system,  although  not  quite  as  large  propor- 
tionately as  those  of  the  United  States.  Her  iron 
industry,  her  cotton  mills,  her  machine  shops  are 
enormous  and  in  normal  times  they  are  wonderfully 
productive.  After  the  suppressed  revolution  of 
1905-06  important  reforms  in  the  land  laws  were  en- 
acted, and  for  the  first  time  the  peasants  were  given 
their  lands  in  fee  simple.  That  is,  they  were  given 
an  opportunity  in  certain  circumstances  to  take  title 
to  their  share  in  communal  lands.  This  gave  them 
an  opportunity  to  sell  if  they  chose,  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  peasant  artisans  did  sell  their  lands,  moved 
into  the  cities  and  became  factory  workers.  Before 
this  time  the  factory  workers  had  more  or  less  alter- 
nated between  town  and  rural  life. 


WHEN  WORKERS  OWN  THEIR  TOOLS     175 

The  leaders  of  the  Social  Democratic  party  en- 
couraged by  every  means  in  their  power  the  selling 
of  lands  by  peasant  owners,  because  they  wanted  the 
workers  to  move  to  town,  organize  in  labor  unions 
and  become  a  political  power.  In  their  own  words, 
they  wanted  to  create  a  landless  working  class,  one 
which,  having  no  stake  in  property,  would  the  more 
easily  revolt  against  the  government  and  more  heart- 
ily support  the  movement  to  create  a  cooperative 
commonwealth.  It  was  good  reasoning  up  to  a  cer- 
tain point.  A  man  with  a  piece  of  land  thinks  twice 
before  he  puts  that  land  in  danger  of  being  absorbed 
by  his  neighbors.  He  hesitates  before  he  takes  a 
course  of  action  which  might  turn  even  a  bad  gov- 
ernment out  at  least.  The  bad  government  protects 
his  title.  But  the  leaders  of  the  Social  Democrats 
left  an  important  human  element  out  of  their  rea- 
soning. A  landless  man  makes  a  good  revolutionist, 
it  is  true,  but  he  does  not  necessarily  make  a  good  co- 
operator.  Nine  and  three-quarters  times  in  ten  he 
is  just  as  strong  for  number  one  as  the  real  estate 
owner.  When  he  gets  a  chance  to  grab  power  and 
money  he  does  it,  and  he  divides  up  just  as  little  as 
the  others  let  him. 

A  story  is  told  in  Russia  which  illustrates  this 
trait  of  character.  Some  one  asked  a  peasant  of 
Little  Russia  what  he  would  do  if  he  were  made 
czar.  "I'd  steal  a  hundred  rubles  and  run  away," 
was  the  prompt  reply.  In  a  word,  that  is  virtually 
what  the  working  people  of  Russia  did  as  soon  as 
the  revolution  of  February,  1917,  made  them  into 
individual  czars  of  Russia. 

When  I  called  on  the  Minister  of  Labor  and  asked 


176     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

him  what  was  the  matter  with  industry,  his  face  as- 
sumed an  expression  of  mingled  amusement  and  de- 
spair. "If  you  really  want  to  know,"  he  said,  in 
effect,  "go  and  look  at  some  of  our  factories. " 

I  was  given  an  official  document,  elaborately 
stamped  and  signed,  authorizing  me  to  enter  and 
inspect  any  factory  in  Petrograd,  and  I  began,  bright 
and  early  the  next  morning,  with  one  of  the  largest 
munitions  factories  in  the  Viborg  district  of  the  city. 
I  showed  my  pass  to  the  man  at  the  gate,  who  read 
it  doubtfully,  and  said  he  didn't  think  it  was  good. 
"What  right  has  the  Minister  of  Labor  to  give  you 
permission  to  visit  this  plant?"  he  inquired.  "If 
anybody  had  a  right  to  give  you  such  permission,  I 
should  think  it  would  be  the  Minister  of  War,  for 
only  war  materials  are  manufactured  here.  Any- 
how, I  don't  think  you  can  get  in." 

I  asked  him  mildly  if  he  was  sure  that  he  had  the 
power  to  keep  me  out,  and  I  suggested  that  he  put 
the  case  up  to  a  higher  authority,  the  manager,  for 
instance.  He  turned  to  a  wall  telephone  in  his  little 
gate  house  and  conversed  with  some  one  at  the  other 
end  of  the  line.  Then  he  said:  "The  committee  is 
in  session  and  will  see  you." 

A  long  walk  through  the  enormous  yard  and  past 
many  shops  brought  me  to  the  office  building  of  the 
plant,  and  there,  in  a  small  room,  I  found  the  com- 
mittee, that  is,  the  group  of  workmen  elected  by  the 
entire  working  force  of  the  factory  to  manage  the 
industry  and  to  fix  all  conditions  of  labor.  Every 
industry  in  Russia  is  thus  managed.  I  had  a  long 
talk  with  this  committee,  but  I  did  not  get  into  the 
factory.     The  man  would  not  permit  me  to  get  in. 


WHEN  WORKERS  OWN  THEIR  TOOLS     177 

They  wouldn't  even  allow  me  to  see  any  one  con- 
nected with  the  office  force.  Kindly  but  firmly  they 
gave  me  to  understand  that  they  were  all  the  power 
there  was  in  that  plant  and  they  could  give  me  all 
the  information  I  could  possibly  need.  So  I  sat 
there  for  an  hour  or  so,  and,  through  my  interpreter, 
learned  how  manufacturing  is  carried  on  when  the 
workers  own  their  tools. 

Because  I  could  carry  but  few  notes  out  of  the 
country,  I  am  not  certain  how  many  delegates  per 
thousand  workers  make  up  a  committee  of  manage- 
ment in  a  Russian  factory,  but  I  think  each  unit  of 
one  hundred  men  elects  a  representative.  Perhaps 
there  are  two  hundred  men  to  the  unit.  My  memory 
for  numbers  is  not  always  reliable.  At  all  events,  the 
committee  members,  who  are  usually  the  intelligent 
and  highly  paid  workers,  do  no  work  except  com- 
mittee work.  But  they  draw  their  full  pay.  The 
employer  has  no  voice  in  the  conduct  of  his  own  busi- 
ness. The  committee  tells  him  how  much  he  pays 
his  employees,  what  their  hours  of  work  are,  when 
they  arrive  and  when  they  depart  and  how  much  they 
produce.  And  the  employer  pays  the  committee 
for  its  kind  words  and  deeds.  I  asked  the  particular 
committee  which  thus  informed  me  if  this  seemed 
fair  to  the  employer.  Mostly  the  men  said  they 
thought  it  did.  One  man  asked  me  who  in  my  opin- 
ion ought  to  pay  the  committee  members.  I  told  him 
I  thought  the  workers  might  pay  at  least  a  part  of 
their  salaries,  and  perhaps  also  give  the  employers 
a  casting  vote  in  case  of  a  tie,  or  something  like  that. 
They  seemed  to  find  the  idea  humorous,  all  except 
one  fine,  thoughtful  young  fellow,  who  said:  "There 


178     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

may  be  an  element  of  unfairness  in  some  of  the  pres- 
ent conditions,  but  time  will  adjust  them.  There  is 
no  question  but  that  the  workers  should  own  the  in- 
dustries, and  they  will.  The  working  class  has  never 
had  a  square  deal  and  now  that  they  have  seized  the 
powers  of  government,  nothing  less  than  confiscation 
of  industries  will  satisfy  them." 

The  working  class  in  Russia  has  had  rather  less 
of  a  square  deal  than  any  other  in  the  modern  world, 
it  is  true.  The  factory  system  being  comparatively 
new  in  Russia,  there  has  not  been  time  for  the  work- 
ers to  organize  closely,  and  under  the  autocracy 
there  was  little  or  no  chance  to  obtain  enlightened 
factory  legislation.  There  was  hardly  a  chance  for 
the  Russian  workman  to  attain  a  very  high  degree  of 
skill  in  many  industries.  He  could  not,  as  a  rule, 
learn  the  finest  processes  of  his  trade,  because  until 
the  war  broke  out  most  of  those  processes  were  in 
the  hands  and  under  the  control  of  Germany.  When 
I  was  in  Russia  in  1906  one  of  the  most  striking 
things  to  me  was  the  prevalence  of  German  shop- 
keepers, German  managers,  German  foremen.  You 
hardly  ever  saw  a  Russian  in  command  of  any  in- 
dustry. I  spoke  of  this  to  a  Russian  friend  and  told 
him  that  I  should  not  like  to  see  in  my  country  all 
the  business  controlled  by  foreigners,  for  these  Ger- 
mans were  not  even  Russian  citizens.  He  shrugged 
his  shoulders  and  said  "Nitchevo,"  which  means  al- 
most anything  and  is  a  general  expression  of  indif- 
ference or  resignation  to  the  inevitable.  "We  have 
no  heads  for  that  sort  of  thing,  we  Russians,"  he 
apologized. 

"But  what  if  you  should  ever  fro  to  war  with 


WHEN  WORKERS  OWN  THEIR  TOOLS     179 

Germany ?"  I  asked.  And  he,  sobered  a  little,  said: 
"We  should  have  to  learn  to  be  business  men  and 
skilled  mechanics,  in  that  case,  and  we  should  have 
a  devil  of  a  time  doing  it." 

Eight  years  later,  almost  to  a  day,  they  did  go  to 
war  with  Germany,  and  they  did  have  a  devil  of  a 
time  adjusting  their  industries  to  meet  the  crisis 
caused  by  the  exodus  of  thousands  of  highly  skilled 
German  managers  and  department  heads  in  hun- 
dreds of  factories  and  shops  throughout  the  empire. 

One  story  told  me  in  Moscow  is  representative,  I 
believe.  A  very  large  factory  taken  over  by  the  gov- 
ernment for  the  fine  toolmaking  facilities  its  ma- 
chines afforded  was  found  to  be  managed  exclusively 
by  German  foremen  and  managers.  Not  only  had 
they  drawn  large  salaries  for  years  in  that  factory, 
but  they  had  insisted  on  hiring  for  the  last  pro- 
cesses and  the  most  highly  skilled  jobs  workmen 
from  Germany.  They  didn't  want,  or  rather  the 
German  government  didn't  want,  the  Russian  peo- 
ple to  know  how  to  do  skilled  work.  They  wanted 
to  keep  Russia  in  exactly  the  right  condition  for 
permanent  commercial  exploitation  by  the  father- 
land. 

I  go  into  this  because  I  think  it  is  only  fair  to  the 
Russian  working  class  to  explain  that  they  have 
not  been  allowed  to  develop  the  intelligence  and  skill 
which  the  English  and  American  working  classes 
have  done.  Because  of  this  ignorance  the  Russians 
of  the  working  class  have  in  their  few  months'  de- 
bauch of  liberty  and  the  control  of  industry  wrecked 
their  country  industrially  and  have  brought  them- 
selves and  their  own  people  to  the  verge  of  starva- 


180    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

tion.  They  have  done  to  their  class  approximately 
what  the  mutinous  soldiers  at  the  front  did  to  the 
men  who  wanted  to  go  forward  and  fight — shot 
them  in  the  back.  I  know  this,  because  I  have  seen 
it.  The  next  factory  I  approached  the  committee 
let  me  in. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

WHY  COTTON  CLOTH  IS  SCARCE 

When  I  got  on  the  train  to  leave  Russia  for  the 
United  States  the  first  familiar  face  I  saw  was  that 
of  Mr.  Daniel  Cheshire,  mill  owner  and  operator 
of  Petrograd.  "I'm  going  home  to  England  to  en- 
list," he  said,  as  we  shook  hands. 

"What  have  you  done  with  your  mills?"  I  asked. 

"I  have  left  them  to  the  Tavarishi,"  replied  Mr. 
Cheshire,  "I  thought  I  might  as  well." 

Daniel  Cheshire  is  not  the  only  large  manufac- 
turer who  has  abandoned  his  business  after  a  vain 
struggle  to  cope  with  the  situation  created  by  the 
Russian  revolution,  and  the  taking  over  by  the  work- 
ing people  of  the  control  of  industry.  Others  have 
given  up  the  struggle,  and  many  more  will  probably 
follow  their  example.  But  Mr.  Cheshire's  story  I 
know  at  first  hand.  His  abandonment  of  his  mills 
is  full  of  significance,  partly  because  of  the  impor- 
tance of  his  branch  of  manufacturing,  and  partly 
because  his  act  may  hasten  the  day  when,  through 
sheer  lack  of  the  necessities  of  life,  the  Russian  peo- 
ple will  cease  pursuing  their  Utopian  dream  and  will 
content  themselves  with  a  government  which,  al- 
though still  capitalistic,  will  rescue  them  from  star- 
vation and  ruin. 

181 


1 82     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

Those  who  think  of  Russia  as  a  land  of  snow  and 
ice  will  be  interested  to  learn  that  in  Turkestan  and 
Transcaucasia  as  well  as  in  other  provinces  of  the 
south  and  east,  they  raise  millions  of  pounds  of  very- 
good  cotton,  the  seeds  of  which  originally  came  from 
America.  Those  who  think  that  every  Russian  peas- 
ant does  nothing  but  farm  will  be  surprised  to  hear 
that  over  a  million  Russians  work  in  textile  mills, 
principally  cotton  textiles. 

When  cotton  spinning  and  weaving  began  in  Rus- 
sia the  mill  owners,  in  most  cases,  sent  to  England 
for  their  foremen  and  managers,  and  the  descen- 
dants of  some  of  these  Englishmen  still  live  and  still 
manage  cotton  mills  in  Russia.  The  Cheshire  fam- 
ily is  a  case  in  point.  The  original  Cheshire  went 
out  from  Manchester  in  the  1840's  to  manage  a 
small  cotton  spinning  factory  in  Petrograd.  He 
saved  money,  bought  a  partnership  and  enlarged 
the  business.  His  sons  enlarged  it  still  more,  and 
to-day  his  grandchildren  own  and  operate  ten  large 
cotton  mills  in  and  around  Petrograd.  Daniel 
Cheshire,  a  keen  young  man  of  thirty-something,  is 
head  of  the  family  and  chief  owner  of  the  mills. 
That  is,  he  was  up  to  February,  19 17.  After  that 
he  wasn't.  The  Tavarishi,  or  "comrades,"  whose 
wages  he  paid,  became  the  virtual  owners  then,  and 
on  August  30,  19 1 7,  they  became,  temporarily  at 
least,  the  sole  owners. 

It  was  in  one  of  the  Cheshire  cotton  mills  that  I 
got  the  most  intimate  view  of  what  becomes  of  in- 
dustry when  the  workers  own  their  tools.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  fairer  to  say,  when  the  workers  seize 
their  tools.     Some  day,  perhaps,  they  will  find  out 


WHY  COTTON  CLOTH  IS  SCARCE       183 

how  to  own  them  honestly  and  then  they  will  use 
them  wisely  and  for  the  common  good. 

It  was  a  happy  accident  that  first  led  me  into  a 
Cheshire  cotton  mill.  After  being  refused  permis- 
sion to  inspect  the  big  munition  works  to  which  I 
applied — refused  by  the  workers'  committee,  not  by 
the  proprietors — I  wandered  through  the  Viborg 
district  of  Petrograd  until  I  found  another  large  fac- 
tory. This  time  the  permit  given  me  by  the  Min- 
ister of  Labor  worked  better,  and  I  was  shown  into 
the  general  office  of  the  plant.  It  was  a  big,  mod- 
ern, up-to-date  office,  furnished  with  the  usual  desks, 
files,  safes  and  the  like,  but  to  remind  me  that  I  was 
in  revolutionary  Russia,  the  walls  were  decorated 
with  many  red  flags,  and  banners  inscribed  with 
white-lettered  mottoes  and  declarations.  The  head 
of  the  workmen's  committee,  who  came  forward 
to  meet  me,  looked  a  little  doubtful  about  letting  me 
go  through  the  mill,  but  just  then  the  door  opened 
and  a  strapping  young  Englishman  came  in.  "See  the 
works?"  said  he.  "Of  course  you  may.  I'd  like 
nothing  better  than  to  show  my  mills  just  now  to 
newspaper  people.  I  call  them  my  mills  yet,  but 
only  for  a  joke." 

He  said  something  in  Russian  to  the  workman, 
who  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  stood  aside,  and 
Mr.  Cheshire  and  I  went  into  the  nearest  mill  room. 
It  was  a  storeroom,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  receiv- 
ing room  for  the  huge  bales  of  coarse  yarn  spun  in 
another  mill.  The  bales  were  soft  and  made  excel- 
lent beds,  a  fact  that  was  not  overlooked,  for  two 
tired  Russian  mill-workers  reposed  blissfully  on  a 
pile  of  bales  as  we  passed  through,  sleeping  the  sleep 


184    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

of  the  just.  They  were  not  the  only  sleepers  I  saw 
in  that  mill.  Several  women  were  taking  naps  on 
piles  of  cloth  near  their  machines,  and  a  great  many 
of  the  workers,  men  and  women,  might  as  well  have 
been  asleep,  for  they  were  doing  no  work.  One 
woman  was  displaying  a  new  pair  of  shoes  to  a 
group  of  other  women,  who  stopped  their  machines 
to  look.  Shoes  are  so  expensive  in  Russia  at  present 
that  a  new  pair  is  worth  looking  at,  I  admit,  but 
they  might  have  postponed  the  exhibition  until  clos- 
ing time.  These  women  stood  and  discussed  the 
shoes,  from  every  point  of  view,  apparently,  nor 
did  they  go  back  to  their  machines  when  we  stopped 
and  discussed  the  women. 

"Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  you  cannot  order 
them  back  to  their  work?"  I  asked. 

"Oh,  I  can  order  them,"  was  the  reply.  "But  if 
they  choose  not  to  go  that  would  make  me  look 
rather  foolish,  wouldn't  it?" 

"You  could  discharge  them,  couldn't  you?"  I 
countered. 

"I  certainly  could  not,"  declared  Mr.  Cheshire. 
"Nobody  can  discharge  an  employe  until  the  shop 
committee  has  sat  on  the  case  and  decided  that  it 
does  not  want  the  man  or  woman  in  the  mill.  All 
I  can  do  is  to  make  my  complaints  to  the  commit- 
tee and  ask  it  to  act." 

Mr.  Cheshire  was  born  in  Russia,  and  has  lived 
there  all  his  life  except  for  a  few  years  spent  in  an 
English  school.  Yet  he  speaks  the  English  of  his 
grandfather,  the  same  unmistakable  little  Lanca- 
shire burr.  He  has  the  Lancastrian's  sense  of 
humor  also  and  he  laughed  even  when  he  told  me 


WHY  COTTON  CLOTH  IS  SCARCE       185 

of  the  demoralization  and  ruin  in  which  the  fantasies 
of  the  revolution  had  plunged  his  business.  The 
utter  absurdity  of  it  was  as  present  in  his  mind  as 
the  disaster. 

"Look  at  that  man,"  he  said,  pointing  to  a  ma- 
chine at  which  a  man  sat  and  wound  cotton  cloth 
into  huge  round  cylinders.  "He  and  the  others  at  his 
particular  job  have  had  their  wages  raised  to  six- 
teen rubles  (about  $5.25)  a  day.  Yes,  of  course. 
The  committee  decides  on  the  wage  scale.  I  am  not 
consulted.  Even  if  I  were,  I  should  have  nothing 
except  a  complimentary  vote,  one  against  hundreds. 
That  chap  gets  sixteen  rubles  a  day,  and  in  addition 
I  must  hire  a  girl  at  four  rubles  a  day  to  lift  the 
roll  of  cloth  off  the  machine." 

We  passed  into  a  print  room  still  discussing  the 
committee.  I  asked  Mr.  Cheshire  if  it  was  true  that 
these  workmen's  committees  were  highly  paid  men 
who  performed  no  service  to  their  employers  and 
still  received  their  regular  pay. 

"It  is  true,"  he  replied.  Then  he  went  on  to 
tell  me  the  following  story:  "The  work  we  do  in 
this  room  is  something  a  little  unusual  in  Russia. 
Few  mills  have  these  machines  as  yet,  and  our  prod- 
uct is  almost  the  only  cotton  goods  of  the  kind  pos- 
sible to  buy  in  Russian  markets  since  the  war.  Be- 
fore that  a  great  deal  of  it  was  imported  from  Eng- 
land and  Germany.  Naturally  it  is  scarce  at  present, 
and  not  long  ago  one  of  our  men  complained  that 
he  couldn't  buy  it  at  all.  'Of  course  you  cannot,'  I 
told  him,  'because  these  mills  are  turning  out  very 
little  of  it.  Go  into  the  print  room  and  see  for 
yourself  how  many  machines  are  idle  for  lack  of 


1 86    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

workers/  And  then  I  made  him  this  offer,  for  he 
was  a  member  of  the  committee :  'Let  me  have  four 
men  of  your  committee  back  to  work  on  these  ma- 
chines, and  I  will  guarantee  that  you  will  soon  be 
able  to  buy  the  goods  you  want.'  Well,  he  agreed, 
and  he  got  the  rest  of  the  committee  to  agree,  and  I 
got  the  men  back.  But  what  do  you  think  those  four 
men  demanded?  They  said  that  they  had  been 
doing  hard  mental  work  on  the  committee  for  two 
months,  and  they  thought  before  they  went  back  to 
the  machines  they  ought  to  have  a  month's  vacation 
with  pay.  I  did  draw  the  line  there.  I  told  them 
I'd  close  the  works  first.  But  since  then  I  under- 
stand that  the  committee  has  begun  to  discuss  the 
two  months  on  and  one  month  off  as  a  future  policy. 
They  say  that  mental  work — they  call  committee 
meetings  mental  work — is  much  harder  than  physi- 
cal labor." 

"I'm  glad  they  are  finding  it  out,"  I  remarked. 
"Perhaps  after  a  while  they  will  discover  that  even 
you  belong  to  the  proletariat." 

"If  they  raise  the  wages  again,"  said  Mr.  Chesh- 
ire, "I  mean  to  ask  them  to  give  me  a  job.  I'll  have 
to.  Then  they'll  have  some  real  mental  work  find- 
ing out  how  to  pay  me  or  themselves  either.  This 
factory  and  all  the  others  in  our  name  have  been 
running  farther  and  farther  behind  for  months. 
Soon  we  shall  have  to  close.  We  should  have  been 
closed  before  now  except  that  we  hoped  that  a  strong 
government  would  be  formed  and  industry  as  well  as 
the  army  and  navy  would  be  placed  under  a  dicta- 
torship." 

The  committees  have  created  an  eight-hour  day 


WHY  COTTON  CLOTH  IS  SCARCE       187 

in  this  particular  industry.  Some  industries  have  a 
six-hour  day,  and  I  was  told  that  numbers  of  work- 
ing people  claimed  that  a  two-hour  day  was  the  ideal 
towards  which  they  aspired.  I  heard  also,  on  good 
authority,  that  certain  groups  favored  a  complete 
cessation  of  all  factory  work  during  the  three  hot 
months  of  summer. 

Mr.  Cheshire's  mills  were  supposed  to  run  eight 
hours  a  day,  but  he  declared  that  he  would  be  satis- 
fied, in  present  circumstances,  to  get  a  good,  solid 
five  hours'  work  out  of  his  people.  If  they  would 
stay  on  the  job  and  actually  produce  for  five  hours 
every  working  day  he  thought  he  might  avert  bank- 
ruptcy. "We  close  at  five,"  he  told  me.  "But  along 
about  4  o'clock  you  watch  them  begin  to  go  home." 

I  watched  and  they  did.  Man  after  man  and 
woman  after  woman  stopped  all  work  and  began  to 
put  on  their  shoes.  Many  millworkers  work  bare- 
footed. They  gathered  in  little  knots  at  a  window 
and  looked  out,  talking  aimlessly.  They  strolled 
about  the  rooms.  Some  just  stopped  work  and  went 
out.  At  half  past  four  in  the  rooms  through  which 
I  walked,  not  half  the  machines  were  running. 

"Is  it  really  like  this  in  all  the  mills  and  factories 
of  Russia?"  I  asked,  "or  is  this  mill  an  exception  to 
the  rule?     Is  it  worse  than  the  average?" 

"It  is  no  worse  than  most,"  was  the  reply.  "It  is 
better  than  some.  Industrial  Russia  has  completely 
broken  down  in  some  places.  It  is  rapidly  breaking 
down  everywhere." 

What  I  saw  afterwards  absolutely  confirmed  this 
statement.  The  industrial  world  is  as  much  in  the 
hands  of  the  Bolsheviki  or  extremists  as  are  the  coun- 


1 88     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

cils  of  workmen's  and  soldiers'  delegates.  While  the 
provisional  government  of  the  early  weeks  of  the 
revolution  discussed  ways  and  means  whereby  the 
workers  in  mills  and  factories  might  gradually  ac- 
quire an  interest  in  their  industries  and  a  voice  in  the 
councils  of  the  managers,  the  workers  settled  the 
whole  thing  by  turning  the  employers  out  and  tak- 
ing over  the  industries  themselves.  They  have  voted 
themselves  enormous  salaries,  short  hours  and  little 
work.  But  they  have  done  little  or  nothing  to  in- 
sure the  permanence  of  the  salaries.  Soon  there 
will  be,  instead  of  an  eight  hour  day,  no  working 
day  at  all.    All  the  shops  and  factories  will  close. 

In  Moscow  is  the  largest  and  finest  department 
store  in  Russia.  It  is  an  English  concern,  Muir  & 
Merrilies,  managed  and  largely  owned  by  Mr.  Wil- 
liam L.  Cazalet.  I  know  him  well,  and  his  testi- 
mony, when  I  saw  him  in  August,  bore  out  this 
statement.  The  committee  in  Muir  &  Merrilies  voted 
that  they  found  it  inconvenient  to  have  clerks  and 
other  employes  go  home  for  lunch  at  different  hours. 
They  therefore  ordered  the  store  closed  every  day 
from  12  to  2  o'clock.  The  store  was  accordingly  closed. 

"I  don't  mind,"  said  Mr.  Cazalet  cheerfully. 
"My  stocks  are  running  low,  the  transportation  sys- 
tem is  on  the  verge  of  collapse,  and  I  can't  get  any 
more  goods.  As  each  line  of  goods  is  exhausted  I 
shall  close  the  department.  When  the  time  comes 
I  shall  close  the  store  and  go  home  to  England  for 
a  vacation." 

He  will  go,  as  Daniel  Cheshire  went,  others  will 
follow,  and  the  workers  will  own  their  tools.  They 
won't  own  anything  else. 


CHAPTER  XX 

MRS.  PANKHURST  IN  RUSSIA 

Emmeline  Pankhurst,  the  English  militant 
suffrage  leader,  known  to  thousands  in  this  coun- 
try, went  to  Russia  in  late  June  of  this  year  to  or- 
ganize the  women  of  the  country  and  help  them  to 
support  the  provisional  government  and  to  oppose 
the  Bolsheviki  or  extremists.  She  succeeded  in  or- 
ganizing a  group  of  strong  and  influential  women 
leaders,  and  she  might  have  accomplished  great 
good  had  not  Kerensky  frowned  on  the  movement. 
Mrs.  Pankhurst's  project,  in  my  opinion,  was  one 
of  Kerensky's  many  lost  opportunities. 

This  will  answer  a  natural  curiosity  on  the  part  of 
the  reader  as  to  why  Mrs.  Pankhurst  came  to  be  in 
revolutionary  Russia.  She  went  of  her  own  initia- 
tive and  under  the  auspices  of  her  suffrage  organiza- 
tion, the  Women's  Social  and  Political  Union,  but 
her  plan  had  the  warm  approval  of  the  English 
premier,  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  who  personally  issued 
her  passport  and  that  of  her  secretary,  Jessie  Ken- 
ney.  Mr.  Lloyd  George  also  gave  directions  that 
Mrs.  Pankhurst  and  Miss  Kenney  should  be  allowed 
to  travel  on  the  only  passenger  boat  that  plies  regu- 
larly between  Great  Britain  and  Norway.  This  boat 
is  strongly  convoyed  and  it  is  used  by  very  few  peo- 

189 


190    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

pie  not  in  the  service  of  the  English  government.  No 
one  in  England  has  a  higher  esteem  for  Mrs.  Pank- 
hurst  than  Lloyd  George,  and  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war  the  two  erstwhile  enemies  have  become 
friends  and  allies.  Mrs.  Pankhurst's  suffragettes 
fired  a  house  that  Mr.  Lloyd  George  was  building 
in  the  country,  and  Mrs.  Pankhurst  was  sentenced 
to  three  years'  penal  servitude  for  the  deed.  She 
had  served  several  weeks  of  the  sentence,  in  hunger 
strike  intervals  which  extended  over  a  year  or  more, 
when  the  war  broke  out  and  all  internal  feuds  were 
declared  off  in  England.  The  Pankhursts  at  once 
called  a  truce  of  militancy  and  ever  since  have  done 
yeoman  service  in  recruiting  for  the  army,  collect- 
ing money  for  war  sufferers,  especially  in  Serbia, 
and  in  many  other  lines  of  patriotic  work. 

The  whole  world  admired  the  statesmanship  of 
this  policy,  but  only  a  few  people  know  how  really 
statesmanlike  it  was.  Among  those  who  do  know  is 
the  English  premier,  for  without  it  he  might  not 
have  become  premier.  In  abandoning  militancy 
Mrs.  Pankhurst  and  her  daughter  Christabel  were 
actuated  by  two  motives :  they  wanted  England  and 
the  allies  to  win  the  war,  and  they  saw  in  the  war 
an  opportunity  to  further  the  cause  of  woman  suf- 
rage.  They  were  under  no  delusion  that  a  grateful 
country  would  bestow  the  vote  on  its  women  as  a 
reward  for  their  unselfish  war  services.  Women 
have  rendered  the  noblest  kind  of  service  in  all  the 
wars  that  have  ever  been  fought,  but  no  country  ever 
showed  its  gratitude  by  making  them  citizens  for  it. 
Witness  our  civil  war.  Mrs.  Pankhurst  and  Chris- 
tabel knew  that  suffrage  would  come  in  England 


MRS.  PANKHURST  IN  RUSSIA  191 

when  the  political  situation  suffered  certain  changes, 
and  it  would  come  in  no  other  way. 

They  were  in  France  in  July,  19 14,  Mrs.  Pank- 
hurst  out  of  prison  under  the  famous  "Cat  and 
Mouse"  act,  and  resting  up  for  another  bout  with 
the  Holloway  jailers.  Christabel  lived  in  Paris  and 
edited  there  the  British  suffragette  weekly  newspaper. 
They  watched  with  deep  emotion  the  mobilization 
of  the  French  army  and  saw  the  French  women 
drop  all  their  other  activities  and  mobilize  for  hos- 
pital and  relief  work.  They  agreed  that  they  must 
go  back  to  England  and  organize  their  women  for 
the  same  work,  and  they  said:  "At  last!  A  chance 
to  get  rid  of  Asquith  and  Sir  Edward  Grey!" 

These  two  men,  especially  Mr.  Asquith,  were  the 
arch  enemies  of  the  women's  cause.  Mr.  Asquith 
had  consistently  blocked  the  woman  suffrage  bills  in 
Parliament,  even  when  a  large  majority  of  the 
House  of  Commons  wanted  to  vote  favorably  on 
them.  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  on  the  other  hand,  was, 
theoretically  at  least,  a  suffragist.  He  wanted  the 
women  to  have  votes,  but  he  wanted  something  else 
a  great  deal  more.  He  wanted,  with  an  earnestness 
amounting  to  a  cosmic  urge,  to  be  prime  minister 
of  England.  His  whole  soul  being  set  on  that  am- 
bition, he  was  not  going  to  take  people's  minds  off 
of  his  candidacy  by  getting  into  the  woman  suffrage 
controversy.  So  he  put  the  whole  subject  one  side 
for  future  reference. 

Mrs.  Pankhurst,  great  and  wise  stateswoman  that 
she  is,  perfectly  understood  this.  She  knew  that,  if 
Mr.  Lloyd  Gorge  became  premier,  he  would  prob- 
ably put  a  suffrage  bill  through  Parliament,  and  she 


192    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

and  Christabel  knew  that  the  new  war  cabinet, 
which  they  trusted  would  come,  would  probably  have 
Lloyd  George  at  its  head.  So  they  bent  all  their 
energies  to  ousting  Mr.  Asquith  and  boosting  Mr. 
Lloyd  George.  They  criticized  caustically,  with 
pen  and  voice,  the  cabinet's  war  policies,  they  turned 
a  whole  volume  of  scorn  on  England's  Serbian  blun- 
ders and  the  Dardanelles  failure.  They  went  all 
over  England  talking  about  Mr.  Asquith  and  his 
ministers,  and  their  work  told.  So  when  Mrs.  Pank- 
hurst  decided  to  go  to  Russia  and  do  what  she  could 
to  rally  the  women  of  that  distracted  country,  Mr. 
Lloyd  George  knew  that  she  would  do  it  if  any  one 
could.  He  gave  her  a  passport  and  a  safe  conduct, 
and  she  went.  A  little  later  Ramsay  Macdonald, 
leader  of  England's  "little  group  of  wilful  men"  op- 
posing the  war,  thought  he  would  go  to  Russia  and 
undo  any  good  Mrs.  Pankhurst  might  do. 

Mr.  Lloyd  George  at  first  refused  to  give  Mr. 
Macdonald  a  passport,  but  his  refusal  so  angered 
the  Bolshevik  element  in  the  Petrograd  Council  of 
Soldiers'  and  Workmen's  Delegates  that  Kerensky 
was  actually  forced  to  ask  the  English  premier  to 
allow  Mr.  Macdonald  to  visit  Russia.  The  English 
premier  therefore  consented  to  issue  the  passport, 
but  the  Seamen's  Union,  which  was  not  in  the  least 
afraid  of  the  Petrograd  soldiers  and  workmen,  or 
of  any  international  misunderstandings,  refused 
point  blank  to  allow  Mr.  Ramsay  Macdonald  to 
travel  on  any  boat  crossing  to  Norway.  The  union 
served  notice  that  the  moment  Mr.  Macdonald 
stepped  foot  on  any  boat  leaving  England  the  sailors 


MRS.  PANKHURST  IN  RUSSIA  193 

on  that  boat  would  step  off.  Mr.  Ramsay  Macdon- 
ald  accordingly  never  stepped  on  a  boat. 

Mrs.  Pankhurst  was  very  well  received  in  Russia. 
The  newspapers  published  columns  about  her, 
statesmen  and  ambassadors  called  on  her,  almost  as 
on  a  visiting  royalty,  and  the  finest  women  in  Petro- 
grad  came  to  her  and  welcomed  her  proffered  aid. 
Which  is  certainly  discouraging  to  those  suffragists 
who  always  try  to  be  good  and  well  mannered  and 
never  picket  the  White  House  or  disturb  a  congress- 
man's afternoon  nap.  A  series  of  meetings  were  ar- 
ranged for  Mrs.  Pankhurst,  but  they  were  neither 
well  arranged  nor  well  managed.  Some  of  them 
got  into  the  hands  of  women  who  had  movements  of 
their  own  to  push,  and  who  were  willing  to  use  Mrs. 
Pankhurst's  drawing  capacity  to  fill  a  room,  but 
were  not  willing  to  turn  the  meeting  over  to  her 
when  she  got  there. 

I  was  present  at  such  a  meeting,  which  had  for 
chairman  a  lady  of  title  who  had  a  scheme  of  some 
kind,  and  the  speakers  were  mostly  women  who  had 
other  schemes,  and  they  all  talked  and  talked  about 
their  schemes,  until  I  feared  that  Mrs.  Pankhurst 
would  never  be  given  a  chance  to  talk  at  all.  One 
woman  spoke  for  over  an  hour  about  the  food  situ- 
ation. Her  remedy  was  to  send  a  commission  to 
America  and  beg  that  a  shipload  of  food  be  sent  via 
Archangel  to  Petrograd.  It  was  pointed  out  to  her 
at  some  length  by  Mr.  MacAllister  Smith,  an 
American  business  man  living  in  Petrograd,  that 
there  was  plenty  of  food  nearer  home  than  America, 
and  that  it  didn't  need  to  be  begged  for. 

Through  it  all  Mrs.  Pankhurst  sat  quietly,  but  I 


194    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

who  knew  her  well  saw  a  suspicious  little  color  creep 
into  her  cheeks  and  a  light  of  battle  flash  into  her 
gray  eyes.  I  don't  know  what  might  have  happened, 
but  what  did  happen  was  dramatic.  A  tall,  fine- 
looking  woman  in  the  back  of  the  room  sprang  to 
her  feet  and  burst  into  a  passionate  speech  of  pro- 
test. While  the  women  in  that  room  were  wasting 
time  in  inconsequential  talk  the  Germans  were  stead- 
ily advancing,  the  Russian  troops  were  retreating 
and  ruin  and  desolation  were  at  their  very  doors. 
She  begged  them  for  the  sake  of  bleeding  Russia  to 
drop  all  controversy  and  let  Mrs.  Pankhurst,  if  she 
could,  tell  them  what  to  do. 

As  she  sat  down,  or  rather  dropped  exhausted 
into  her  seat,  Mrs.  Pankhurst  stood  up.  She  is  a 
small  woman,  but  when  she  is  in  certain  moods  she 
manages  somehow  to  look  tall.  She  looked  tall  on 
this  occasion.  She  spoke  in  French  and  her  talk 
lasted  not  longer  than  fifteen  minutes,  but  when  she 
finished  half  the  women  in  the  room  would  have 
gone  into  the  trenches  after  her.  The  others  looked 
frightened.  Mrs.  Pankhurst  told  the  women  that 
250  Russian  women  had  gone  out  of  their  homes, 
donned  soldiers'  uniforms  and  were  prepared  to 
give  their  lives  for  their  country  and  the  democracy 
of  the  world.  Mrs.  Pankhurst  was  naturally  an  ad- 
mirer of  Botchkareva  and  her  Battalion  of  Death, 
and  had  a  few  days  before  this  meeting  reviewed  the 
regiment.  She  told  these  women  of  leisure  that  if 
working  women  were  willing  to  risk  their  lives  on 
the  battlefield  for  the  freedom  of  Russia  the  women 
who  remained  at  home  ought  to  be  willing  to  risk 
their  lives  on  the  streets.     Whenever  a  Bolshevik 


MRS.  PANKHURST  IN  RUSSIA  195 

street  orator  preached  separate  peace  or  a  cessation 
of  fighting,  a  woman  of  education  and  ability  ought 
to  stand  up  and  tell  that  same  street  crowd  the  truth. 
The  women  ought  to  storm  the  Soviets  all  over  Rus- 
sia and  force  the  men  to  support  Kerensky  and  the 
Provisional  Government  in  their  effort  to  rally  the 
army  and  defeat  the  Germans. 

The  movement,  she  told  them,  must  be  a  Russian 
women's  movement  only.  No  foreigners  should  ap- 
pear in  it  at  all.  They  must  do  the  work,  but  she 
was  there  to  give  them  the  full  benefit  of  her  expe- 
rience as  an  organizer.  She  would  show  them  how 
to  do  the  work,  how  to  train  speakers,  how  to  man- 
age politicians,  how  to  arrange  demonstrations. 
One  of  the  first  things  she  advised  them  to  do  was  to 
establish  a  headquarters  in  a  conspicuous  place,  and 
to  get  up  a  great  demonstration  of  women  to  march 
in  a  body  to  the  Winter  Palace  or  the  Tauride  Pal- 
ace, wherever  the  Provisional  Government  was  hold- 
ing its  meetings  at  the  time.  They  should  offer  their 
services  to  the  government,  and  let  the  country  see 
that  women  were  in  the  field  to  support  the  war. 
That  speech  and  that  program  swept  the  women  off 
their  feet.  Immediate  steps  were  taken  to  organize, 
and  a  few  women,  without  waiting  for  organization, 
actually  did  go  out  into  the  streets  and  talk  against 
the  Bolsheviki. 

Then  came  the  days  of  the  July  revolution  when 
all  street  speaking  ceased,  and  that  interfered  with 
the  women's  plan.  What  discouraged  it  most  of  all 
was  Kerensky's  cynical  attitude  toward  it.  A  woman 
of  rank  and  of  great  ability,  knowing  Kerensky  well, 
went  to  him  and  told  him  what  they  proposed  to 


i96    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

do,  and  asked  for  his  cooperation.  To  her  aston- 
ishment he  refused  point  blank  and  he  told  her  that 
the  women  would  not  be  allowed  to  make  a  demon- 
stration or  to  march  to  the  palace.  Naturally  she 
asked  him  why,  and  he  replied  evasively  that  there 
had  been  too  many  demonstrations  already. 

Ambassador  Francis  shared  the  women's  disap- 
pointment to  the  extent  of  calling  on  Kerensky  and 
trying  to  make  him  see  the  value  of  their  assistance 
in  an  hour  of  crisis,  but  Kerensky  persisted  in  his 
refusal. 

I  do  not  understand  why  he  acted  in  this  manner. 
His  own  domestic  affairs  were  in  a  sad  state  at  this 
time,  a  rumor  stating  that  Mme.  Kerenskaia  was 
divorcing  her  famous  husband.  It  may  be  that 
Kerensky  was  in  a  state  of  mind  of  general  preju- 
dice against  all  women.  Perhaps  he  has  the  Napo- 
leonic conception  of  the  position  of  women  in  the 
state.  I  do  not  know.  But  if  he  is  an  anti-suffragist 
he  is  almost  alone  in  his  opinion  in  Russia.  Mrs. 
Pankhurst  did  not  have  to  convert  the  country  to 
suffrage.  There  is  no  spoken  opposition  to  it  any- 
where, as  far  as  I  could  discover.  It  is  taken  for 
granted  that  women  will  vote  under  the  new  consti- 
tution. They  have  voted  already  in  municipal  elec- 
tions, and  in  many  cities  they  have  been  elected  to 
the  town  dumas.  Fourteen  women  were  elected  to 
the  Moscow  town  duma  last  summer. 

Neither  is  Russia  opposed  to  militant  suffragism. 
Mrs.  Pankhurst  was  a  guest  of  honor  one  night  at 
the  great  congress  of  Cossacks  in  Petrograd.  When 
she  appeared  on  the  platform  she  received  an  ova- 
tion, and  Prof.  Miliukoff's  introduction  of  the  fa- 


MRS.  PANKHURST  IN  RUSSIA  197 

mous  Englishwoman  was  a  high  eulogy.  Mrs.  Pank- 
hurst's  autobiography  has  been  translated  into  Rus- 
sian and  is  widely  circulated.  Her  mission  failed 
because  Kerensky  killed  it.  That  is  all.  Her  visit 
to  Russia  was  not  a  complete  failure,  however,  for 
she  succeeded  in  awakening  at  least  one  group  of 
Russian  women  to  a  keen  sense  of  their  political  re- 
sponsibilities. They  have  begun  to  work,  and  when 
order  is  restored  in  the  country,  their  work  will  be 
heard  of. 

They  told  her  in  my  hearing  that  they  had  never 
before  realized  what  was  before  them,  and  they  did 
not  intend  that  the  new  constitution  should  be  writ- 
ten by  any  but  the  best  men  in  Russia.  Much  can 
be  expected  of  Russian  women  in  the  future,  in  my 
opinion. 

Among  the  working  people  the  women  have 
shown  themselves  to  be  at  least  as  ready  for  citizen- 
ship as  the  men.  They  appear  among  the  Bolshe- 
viki,  of  course,  and  they  are  seen  among  the  slack- 
ers in  industry.  But  one  group  of  women  workers 
played  a  loyal  part  throughout  the  February  revolu- 
tion and  in  the  after  troubles.  This  was  the  tele- 
phone force,  especially  the  girls  in  the  big  central 
office  in  the  Morskaia.  These  girls,  without  any  di- 
rection or  orders,  joined  in  an  absolute  refusal  to 
connect  the  headquarters  of  the  Bolsheviki  in  the 
dancer's  palace  on  the  Neva,  or  the  munitions  fac- 
tory which  was  their  other  stronghold.  Cut  off  from 
using  the  telephone  the  mutinous  soldiers  and  work- 
men were  severely  handicapped,  and  the  govern- 
ment was  materially  assisted. 

Women  of  the  educated  classes  will  play  an  im- 


198    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

portant  part  in  the  reconstruction  of  Russia.  They 
will  hold  office,  and  may  sit  in  the  ministry.  Already 
one  woman  has  been  appointed  adjunct  Minister  of 
Public  Welfare.  This  was  the  well  known  and  effi- 
cient Countess  Panine,  whose  civic  work  is  famous 
throughout  the  empire.  Countess  Panine  held  office 
for  a  short  time  only,  because  no  ministry  held 
together  long.  That  she  will  be  returned  to  office 
when  stability  is  secured,  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt. 


^\-v,  ,  ■ 


CHAPTER  XXI 

KERENSKY,   THE   MYSTERY  MAN 

It  is  unfortunate  that  nothing  has  ever  been  writ- 
ten about  Kerensky  except  eulogies.  However  de- 
served they  may  be,  eulogies  have  the  fault  of  not 
being  informative.  Who  is  Kerensky?  What  kind 
of  a  man  is  he?  Why  hasn't  he  restored  order  in 
Russia?  If  he  cannot  restore  order,  discipline  the 
army  and  make  it  fight,  why  doesn't  he  step  aside 
and  let  somebody  else  try?  These  questions  have 
been  asked  on  all  sides. 

I  may  not  be  able  to  answer  all  or  any  conclu- 
sively. But  I  was  in  Russia  three  months,  and  I 
watched  Kerensky  progress  from  Minister  of  War 
to  Minister-President  of  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment and  virtual  President  of  the  Russian  Republic. 
I  can  tell  my  own  observations  of  the  man,  and  I 
can  present  the  evidence  of  events,  allowing  the 
reader  to  draw  his  conclusions.  I  saw  Kerensky 
frequently,  heard  him  speak  several  times,  and,  like 
almost  every  one  else,  I  went  through  a  period  of 
extreme  enthusiasm  for  him.  A  certain  enthusiasm 
I  have  retained.  I  still  think  he  has  achieved  mar- 
vels in  keeping  a  government  together  and  remain- 
ing for  nearly  six  months  at  the  head  of  that  gov- 
ernment. In  fact  Kerensky,  whatever  else  is  said 
of  him,  for  a  time  at  least  kept  before  the  wild-eyed, 

199 


200    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

liberty-mad  masses  of  the  Russian  people  the  certain 
fact  that  governments  must  be,  that  the  state  cannot 
exist  without  leaders. 

There  was  apparently  no  other  man  in  Russia 
who  could  do  this  thing.  The  old  theory  that  great 
events  always  produce  great  men  seems  to  have 
failed  in  this  case.  The  most  stupendous  event  in 
modern  history,  the  Russian  revolution,  has  as  yet 
produced  no  great,  or  even,  when  Kerensky  is  left 
out,  no  near-great  men.  The  first  provisional  gov- 
ernment contained  able  men  like  Lvoff  and  Miliu- 
koff.  But  they  could  no  more  cope  with  the  situa- 
tion created  by  the  fall  of  autocracy  in  Russia  than 
so  many  children  could  operate  a  railroad  system. 

These  men  thought  that  they  had  helped  to  bring 
on  a  political  revolution.  They  little  knew  their 
Russia.  There  was  just  one  man  of  ability  in  that 
first  ministry  who  knew  the  truth,  and  he  knew  only 
part  of  it.  Alexander  Feodorovitch  Kerensky,  the  so- 
cialist who  was  appointed  Minister  of  Justice,  knew 
that  what  the  world  was  about  to  witness  in  Russia 
was  a  social  revolution.  But  he,  too,  was  blind  to 
the  task  before  him.  At  the  very  outset  of  his  career 
as  Minister  of  Justice,  Kerensky  insisted  on  abolish- 
ing the  death  penalty.  "I  do  not  wish  that  this  shall 
be  a  bloody  revolution,"  he  declared.  In  one  sen- 
tence he  showed  how  little  he,  too,  knew  his  Russia. 

There  was  some  excuse  for  ignorance  on  the  part 
of  most  of  the  other  ministers.  Prince  Lvoff,  for 
example,  was  a  large  estate  owner,  a  man  who  lived 
in  the  country  a  great  deal  of  the  time,  one  who  had 
been  active  in  the  affairs  of  his  zemstvo  or  county 
council,  a  friend  and  adviser  of  peasants,  but  always 


KERENSKY,  THE  MYSTERY  MAN        201 

the  great  gentleman,  the  aristocrat.  Miliukoff  was 
a  university  professor,  a  man  of  books,  an  amateur 
of  music.    And  so  on  through  the  list. 

But  Kerensky  was  no  aristocrat.  He  was  an  ob- 
scure lawyer,  one  who  specialized  in  cases  of  men 
and  women  accused  of  political  offenses.  He  de- 
fended with  fiery  zeal  young  students  whose  revolu- 
tionary activities  drew  them  within  the  tiger  claws 
of  the  autocracy.  He  was  the  friend  of  the  poor. 
He  was  one  of  the  executive  council  of  the  Social 
Revolutionary  party,  largely  made  up  of  peasants. 
Why  did  he  not  know  and  understand  his  country- 
men ?  Why  could  he  not  have  known  that  the  abol- 
ishment of  the  death  penalty  at  that  hour  of  supreme 
crisis  would  drench  the  revolution  in  blood? 

Kerensky  was  in  the  beginning  an  extreme  ideal- 
ist, a  preacher,  a  prophet.  He  changed  a  great  deal 
between  February  and  November,  19 17.  But 
events,  I  think,  on  the  whole,  prove  him  an  extreme 
idealist,  a  dreamer  instead  of  a  doer.  Such  men  and 
women  are  never  really  great  as  leaders.  They  can 
stir  up  an  enormous  enthusiasm,  send  the  crowd  to 
the  highest  pitch  of  inspiration,  even  make  it  do 
monumental  things  for  a  time.  But  the  dreamer's 
usefulness  stops  there. 

Somewhere  in  Russia,  in  one  of  the  universities 
perhaps,  in  some  farmhouse  or  on  some  lonely 
steppe,  there  lives  a  big,  hard-fisted  strong-brained 
ruthless  boy  who  can  and  will  some  day  do  the  kind 
of  ruling  and  guiding  Kerensky  talks  about  and 
would  have  enforced  if  he  could.  Perhaps  that  boy 
got  his  inspiration  from  hearing  Kerensky  talk.  But 
the  boy  is  a  real  leader.     He  will  stretch  out  his 


202    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

hand  to  the  mob  and  the  mob  will  obey  his  indomit- 
able will. 

Did  the  mob  ever  obey  Kerensky's  will?  Take 
the  army  situation,  for  example.  The  day  I  ar- 
rived in  Petrograd,  May  28,  I  had  a  talk  with  the 
then  American  consul,  Mr.  North  Winship.  He 
told  me  what  he  had  seen  of  the  revolution,  and 
spoke  gravely  and  apprehensively  of  the  future. 
The  sedition  in  many  regiments  at  the  front  was,  to 
his  mind,  the  most  sinister  single  menace  that  had  yet 
developed.  "Kerensky,  the  new  war  minister,  has 
just  been  sent  down  to  the  front,"  he  told  me.  "He 
will  save  the  situation  if  any  living  human  being  can. 
His  influence  over  the  Russians  is  enormous.  He 
can  sway  them  like  the  tides  with  his  eloquence." 

Kerensky,  who  all  the  world  knows  is  a  sickly  man, 
spared  himself  no  whit  during  those  critical  days. 
He  tore  all  over  the  front  in  motor  cars.  He  made 
scores  of  speeches,  thrilling  speeches.  Every  one 
reading  in  the  newspapers  of  his  wonderful  speeches 
breathed  more  freely  and  whispered,  "We  are 
saved."    But  were  they? 

One  incident.  It  may  have  been  cabled  to  the 
American  newspapers.  On  one  front  where  Keren- 
sky  was  speaking  a  soldier,  doubtless  deputed  by 
the  less  brave  in  the  regiment,  stepped  forward  and 
said:  "It  is  all  very  well  to  urge  us  to  fight  for 
liberty,  but  if  a  man  is  killed  fighting  what  good  is 
liberty  to  him?"  Instantly  Kerensky's  wrath  poured 
out  in  a  torrent  of  eloquence.  He  denounced  the 
man  for  a  traitor  and  a  disgrace.  The  man  who 
would  think  about  his  miserable  skin  when  the  free- 
dom of  his  mother  country  was  threatened  was  unfit 


KERENSKY,  THE  MYSTERY  MAN        203 

to  live  with  brave  men.  Turning  to  the  colonel  of 
the  regiment,  he  demanded  that  the  soldier  be  de- 
graded and  immediately  turned  out  of  the  army, 
sent  home  a  branded  coward. 

The  colonel  replied  that  there  were  others  in  the 
regiment  who  might,  with  justice,  receive  the  same 
treatment.  But  no,  said  Kerensky,  one  man  dis- 
graced was  enough.  He  would  be  a  symbol  of  dis- 
honor. The  Russian  army  needed  nothing  more. 
The  unfortunate  man  is  said  to  have  fallen  in  a 
swoon.  I  wouldn't  be  surprised  if  this  was  so.  But 
he  was  probably  glad  enough  after  he  recovered 
that  he  was  sent  home.  Nor  was  the  symbol  of  dis- 
honor enough  for  the  Russian  army.  It  continued 
to  desert. 

Often  after  one  of  Kerensky's  speeches  he  would 
call  on  the  troops  to  declare  whether  or  not  they 
would  fight.  Always  they  roared  out  that  they 
would,  to  the  death.  Sometimes  they  did,  it  is  true, 
but  sometimes  also  they  didn't.  At  present  no  one 
can  tell  whether  any  soldiers,  except  the  Cossacks  and 
the  women,  are  going  to  go  forward  when  com- 
manded. 

When  the  army  demoralization,  fraternization 
and  desertions  began  to  assume  recent  frightful 
proportions  Kerensky  issued  a  manifesto  telling  the 
soldiers  what  he  was  prepared  to  do  to  deserters. 
They  would  not  be  shot — no,  the  death  penalty  was 
for  all  time  abolished  in  Russia.  But  deserters  would 
be  treated  as  traitors.  Their  families  would  receive 
no  soldiers'  benefits,  and  they  would  not  be  allowed 
to  participate  in  the  redistribution  of  land.  The 
Minister-President,  for  by  this  time  Kerensky  was  at 


204    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

the  head  of  the  Provisional  Government,  would  give 
the  deserters  time  to  get  back  to  their  regiments. 
He  named  a  date  about  three  weeks  in  advance. 
But  on  that  day,  at  the  extreme  limit,  all  soldiers 
must  be  back  in  their  regiments.  This  manifesto 
was  issued  not  once,  but  three  times,  as  I  have  stated. 
Three  separate  dates  were  given,  three  ultimata 
pronounced.  But  none  of  them  was  even  noticed  by 
the  demoralized  soldiers.  On  one  date,  June  18, 
it  is  true,  Kerensky' s  order  to  advance  was  obeyed. 
At  all  events,  the  troops  advanced  on  that  day  and 
fought  a  victorious  fight.  It  may  have  been  in  re- 
sponse to  Kerensky's  order,  or  it  may  have  been  a 
coincidence. 

Kerensky's  idealism  began  to  suffer.  He  began 
to  see  his  people  as  an  unruly,  unreasoning,  sanguin- 
ary mob.  But  he  loved  the  mob  and  could  not  bring 
himself  to  do  it  violence  even  for  its  own  good.  In 
July  he  agreed  that  Korniloff  should  be  made  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  army,  with  power  to  shoot  de- 
serters in  the  face  of  battle.  Korniloff's  demand  for 
full  command  of  the  army,  both  at  the  front  and  in 
the  reserve,  with  power  to  shoot  all  slackers,  Keren- 
sky  would  not  agree  to.  However,  in  that  same 
month  of  July,  19 17,  Kerensky  had  progressed  so 
far  that  he  told  the  world  that  he  was  prepared  to 
save  Russia  and  Russian  unity  by  blood  and  iron,  if 
argument  and  reason,  honor  and  conscience,  were 
not  sufficient.  Apparently  they  were  not  sufficient, 
but  where  was  the  blood  and  iron?  Beating  Russia 
into  submission  would  be  a  big  job  for  anybody  just 
then,  and  it  would  be  interesting  to  know  just  how 
Kerensky  thought  he  could  do  it.    He  was  the  only 


KERENSKY,  THE  MYSTERY  MAN         205 

man  of  first  rate  ability  in  his  ministry,  the  only 
strong  force.  He  would  have  had  to  have  some 
backing,  and  where  could  he  get  it? 

The  Soviets?  They  have  over  and  over,  after 
fierce  fighting,  voted  to  give  Kerensky  support. 
Once  they  voted  to  give  him  supreme  power.  But 
they  were  never  in  earnest  about  it,  and  Kerensky 
knew  it  very  well.  They  proved  that  they  were  in- 
sincere, it  seems  to  me,  by  their  action  in  October  in 
refusing  to  support  any  ministry  not  made  up  exclu- 
sively of  Socialists,  and  then  making  such  a  body 
subject  to  criticism  and  control. 

"The  Germans  are  at  our  very  gates,"  Kerensky 
told  those  men.  "While  you  sit  talking  here,  and  are 
refusing  to  listen  to  words  of  reason  from  your  com- 
mander-in-chief, your  revolution  is  in  danger  of  de- 
struction. Are  there  no  words  of  mine  to  make  you 
see  it?" 

Words,  words,  words !  Hurled  passionately  from 
a  burning  heart  into  a  whirling  void.  That  seems  to 
me  to  typify  Alexander  Feodorovitch  Kerensky  talk- 
ing to  the  Russian  revolutionary  mob. 

The  French  revolution  offers  no  parallel  to  this. 
Each  one  of  the  successive  leaders  of  that  mob  ac- 
complished something  good  or  bad.  Mirabeau  led 
the  mass  as  far  as  a  constituent  assembly.  Marat 
and  Danton  got  rid  of  the  king.  Robespierre  im- 
posed his  will  on  Paris  until  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
terror.  Robespierre,  "the  sea-green  incorruptible/' 
is  the  nearest  parallel  to  Kerensky  that  the  French 
revolution  offers.  He  led  the  mob  in  the  direction  it 
wanted  to  go.  Kerensky  followed  it  in  a  direction 
it  wanted  to  go,  begging  it  with  all  his  eloquence 


206    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

to  turn  around  and  follow  him.  The  mob  applauded 
him,  adulated  him,  wove  laurels  for  his  brow,  but 
it  would  not  follow  him. 

He  could  not  turn  the  mob.  Perhaps  nobody 
could  have  done  so.  Perhaps  what  had  happened 
in  Russia  was  inevitable,  the  only  possible  reaction 
from  three  centuries  of  Romanoff  rule.  To  have  it 
otherwise  Kerensky  has  all  but  laid  down  his  life. 
He  suffers  from  some  kind  of  kidney  disease,  and 
shortly  before  the  February  revolution  he  underwent 
an  operation  which  nearly  finished  him.  His  right 
hand  is  incapacitated  and  is  usually  worn  in  a  sling 
or  tucked  inside  his  coat.  He  is  thin,  hollow  of 
chest  and  walks  with  a  slight  stoop. 

A  man  of  thirty-seven,  Kerensky  is  about  five  feet 
eight  in  height.  He  has  thick  brown  hair,  which 
bristles  in  pompadour  all  over  his  finely  shaped  head. 
His  myopic  eyes  are  blue,  or  grey,  according  to  his 
mood.  You  see  those  eyes  in  Russia,  deep,  beauti- 
ful blue  at  times,  steel  grey  at  others.  Kerensky's 
eyes  look  straight  at  you  and  give  you  confidence  in 
his  candor.  Sometimes  when  he  is  suffering  physi- 
cally the  eyes  seem  to  sink  in  his  head  and  lose  all 
their  brightness.  When  he  is  tired  or  discouraged 
they  burn  like  somber  fires.  His  face  is  pale,  and 
even  sometimes  an  ashen  grey,  and  the  face  is  deeply 
lined  and  scarred  with  troubled  thought.  The  nose 
is  big  and  strong,  the  mouth  deeply  curved,  and  the 
strong  chin  is  cleft,  with  a  deep  line,  rather  than  a 
dimple. 

Kerensky's  speeches,  to  my  mind,  read  better  than 
they  sound.  He  is  intensely  nervous  on  the  plat- 
form, jerking,  moving  from  side  to  side,  striding 


KERENSKY,  THE  MYSTERY  MAN        207 

up  and  down,  thrusting  out  his  chin — a  kind  of  de- 
livery I  especially  dislike.  His  gestures  are  all 
jerky  and  nervous.  His  voice  is  rather  shrill.  But 
in  spite  of  all  this  he  is  a  really  eloquent  speaker, 
and  he  rouses  his  audiences  to  a  point  of  enthusiasm 
I  have  seen  only  one  man  equal.  Of  course  I  mean 
Theodore  Roosevelt. 

Kerensky  was  formerly  a  model  family  man,  I 
heard,  but  something  went  wrong,  and  last  summer 
Mme.  Kerenskaia  and  her  two  small  sons,  nine  and 
seven,  lived  alone  in  the  modest  home.  Kerensky 
lived  in  a  suite  in  the  Winter  Palace  and  drove  in 
the  Czar's  motor  cars  and  was  waited  on  by  a  whole 
retinue  of  faithful  retainers.  No  disparagement  to 
him  is  intended  in  the  statement.  The  Winter  Pal- 
ace was  his  headquarters,  and  as  for  the  motor  cars 
he  had  a  right  to  drive  in  them,  and  every  right  in 
the  world  to  be  waited  on  and  cared  for. 

The  parents  of  this  fated  child  of  revolution 
were  well  educated  and  fairly  well  circumstanced. 
The  elder  Kerensky  was  a  school  inspector  and  was 
able  to  give  his  son  a  university  education.  Rumor 
persistently  states  that  Kerensky's  mother  was  a 
Jewess,  but  I  do  not  know  whether  this  is  true  or 
not. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  RIGHTS  OF  SMALL  NATIONS 

One  of  the  main  contentions  of  the  extremists  of 
the  Russian  revolution  concerns  the  self-governing 
rights  of  the  states,  large  and  small,  which  make  up 
the  empire.  I  met  no  one  in  Russia  who  did  not 
agree  that  each  one  of  the  states  had  a  right  to  local 
autonomy,  but  I  met  many  who  feared  greatly  lest 
the  empire  should  be  dismembered  and  should  fall 
apart  into  a  number  of  small,  weak  states.  Espe- 
cially disastrous  would  this  be,  both  to  Russia  and 
to  the  Allies,  if  it  happened  during  the  war.  That 
Germany  is  doing  everything  in  her  power  to  bring 
about  this  end  is  proof  enough  that  it  would  be  dis- 
astrous to  the  Allies.  Germany's  army  and  navy  and 
German  diplomacy  are  working  overtime  to  sepa- 
rate the  Russian  states.  The  enemy  forces  are 
working  now  to  isolate  the  Baltic  states  and  Fin- 
land, and  German  agents  are  busy  all  over  the  em- 
pire spreading  the  propaganda  of  secession. 

"The  right  of  small  peoples  to  govern  them- 
selves" is  one  of  the  easiest  gospels  in  the  world  to 
preach.  As  a  principle  it  is  not  even  debatable.  In 
practice,  however,  it  very  often  is  far  from  expedient 
or  practicable.  But  the  recently  liberated  Russians, 
each  separate  language  and  racial  group  smarting 
from  remembered  wrongs  inflicted  by  the  old  gov- 

208 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  SMALL  NATIONS      209 

ernment,  took  fire  with  the  idea  of  self-government, 
and  in  every  corner  of  Russia  are  found  provinces, 
governments,  even  cities,  repudiating  the  central  gov- 
ernment and  setting  up  republics  of  their  own.  Pro- 
visional governments  were  created  last  summer  in 
provinces  of  Siberia,  in  the  rich  province  of  Ukrania, 
in  the  town  of  Kronstadt,  in  the  Siberian  towns  of 
Tomsk  and  Tsaritsine,  and  in  a  number  of  other  lo- 
calities. Finland  very  early  started  an  agitation  for 
a  separate  government,  and  only  the  closing  of  the 
Diet  and  the  prevention  by  armed  force  of  the  con- 
vening of  a  new  Diet  stood  in  the  way  of  a  socialist 
manifesto  of  separation.  The  Socialists  are  the  ma- 
jority party  in  the  Diet,  and  they  counted  on  the 
support  of  enough  people  in  the  three  "bourgeois" 
parties — the  Swedish,  old  Finnish  and  young  Fin- 
nish parties — to  carry  their  measure  through. 

Every  one  of  these  attempts  at  secession  was 
marked  by  riots,  murders  and  excesses  of  every  kind. 
A  report  from  Kirsanoff,  a  city  that  wanted  last  June 
to  be  a  republic  all  by  itself,  told  of  a  garrison  of 
soldiers  who  broke  loose,  fell  on  the  inhabitants  of 
the  town,  robbed  and  murdered  them,  outraged 
women,  burned  houses,  looted  shops  and  generally 
behaved  like  maddened  animals.  There  seemed  to 
be  no  reason  why  the  soldiers,  who  had  previously 
behaved  like  decent  men,  should  have  been  seized 
with  sudden  criminal  mania.  Liberty  simply  acted 
on  their  systems  like  a  deadly  drug. 

It  was  the  same  thing  in  Kronstadt,  only  in  Kron- 
stadt they  developed  a  drug  habit,  so  to  speak.  This 
fortified  town  of  some  60,000  inhabitants  is  situ- 
ated at  the  mouth  of  the  Neva  on  the  Gulf  of  Fin- 


2io     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

land.  The  fortress  of  Kronstadt,  which  dominates 
the  town,  in  normal  times  constitutes  one  of  the  chief 
defenses  of  Petrograd,  a  few  miles  up  the  river. 
The  Gulf  of  Kronstadt,  on  which  the  fortress  stands, 
is  the  chief  station  of  the  Baltic  fleet.  With  a  strong 
garrison,  a  fleet  of  battleships  and  a  well-organized 
Bolsheviki,  Kronstadt  was  able  for  many  weeks  to 
defy  the  Provisional  Government,  to  maintain  what 
it  called  a  government  of  its  own,  and  to  commit 
more  horrible  crimes  and  more  stupid  excesses  than 
almost  any  other  place  in  Russia.  Murder  on  a 
wholesale  scale  marked  the  progress  of  the  revolu- 
tion in  the  fortress  and  on  the  battleships.  More 
than  a  score  of  young  officers  in  training  were  killed 
in  the  fortress  in  one  day  last  spring.  They  were 
not  even  arrested  and  tried  on  any  charges.  They 
were  just  butchered.  A  number  of  other  officers 
were  killed,  including  the  commandant  and  vice-com- 
mandant of  the  fortress,  and  other  officers  were 
thrown  into  cells  and  kept  there  for  months  with- 
out even  the  farce  of  a  trial. 

Kronstadt  set  up  a  republic  in  late  May  and  by 
mid- June  the  orgy  was  in  full  swing.  The  civil  pop- 
ulation looted  and  robbed,  and  the  soldiers  and  ma- 
rines aided  and  abetted  them  heartily.  Once  a  band 
of  looters  sacking  a  warehouse  were  arrested  by  the 
militia  police  after  a  lively  shooting  match  and  put 
in  jail.  Cases  where  the  militia  actually  arrested 
thieves  were  so  rare  in  Russia  last  summer  that  this 
one  received  considerable  newspaper  publicity.  The 
papers  were  obliged  to  record  that,  a  few  hours  af- 
ter the  men  were  arrested,  a  crowd  of  armed  sol- 
diers and  sailors  demanded  the  liberation  of  the 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  SMALL  NATIONS      211 

prisoners.     Of  course  their  demands  were  honored. 

The  provisional  government  was  able  to  keep 
Finland  in  partial  check  by  threatening  to  withhold 
cereals  and  other  provisions  from  her  in  case  of 
secession.  But  Kronstadt,  being  a  fortress,  had 
plenty  of  provisions,  as  plenty  goes  in  Russia  these 
days.  Kronstadt  had  more  food  and  fuel  than  Pet- 
rograd.  That  is  why  her  orgy  was  able  to  last  so 
long.  It  lasted  until  the  days  of  the  July  revolution, 
when  thousands  of  loyal  troops  were  recalled  from 
the  front  to  restore  order,  many  of  the  ringleaders 
of  the  mutinous  troops  were  expelled  from  the  army 
and  several  regiments  were  disbanded  in  disgrace. 
The  orgy  still  goes  on  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  for- 
tress, and  no  one  knows  yet  how  far  disaffection 
among  the  naval  forces  went. 

The  Kronstadt  Soviet,  or  Council  of  Workmen's 
and  Soldiers'  Delegates,  covered  itself  with  glory 
during  the  existence  of  t?he  republic.  The  Soviet,  or 
one  of  its  committees,  undertook  the  solving  of  the 
housing  problem  as  follows :  The  committee  went  all 
over  the  town  and  inspected  houses  and  apartments. 
They  inquired  in  each  case  at  the  different  places  the 
amount  of  the  rent,  and  then  they  proceeded  to  cut 
down  the  rent,  one-third  to  one-half.  They  didn't 
say  anything  about  the  reduction  to  the  landlord,  but 
they  passed  the  word  around  to  the  Tavarishi.  A 
perfect  exodus  of  renters  out  of  their  apartments 
into  bigger  and  better  ones  ensued.  Everybody 
moved,  and  when  rent  day  came  around  and  the 
landlords  or  their  agents  called  on  the  new  tenants 
they  were  calmly  told:    "Not  on  your  life  is  my  rent 


212    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

thirty  rubles  a  month.  It  is  fifteen  rubles,  and  if 
you  don't  take  that  you  will  get  nothing." 

The  landlords  appealed  to  the  Soviet,  but  all  the 
satisfaction  they  got  there  was  a  threat  of  confis- 
cation. "You've  robbed  the  working  class  long 
enough,"  said  the  Soviet.  "We  ought  not  to  pay 
you  any  rent,  and  perhaps  after  a  while  we  won't." 

From  one  point  of  view  not  the  least  outrage  the 
Soviet  perpetrated  on  the  helpless  population  of 
Kronstadt  was  an  attempt  to  talk  it  to  death.  There 
is  a  fine  cathedral  in  Kronstadt  and  in  front  of  it, 
as  is  customary  in  Russia,  a  large  open  square.  In 
this  square  the  Soviet  erected  a  speaker's  stand  and 
every  day  the  population,  or  as  much  of  it  as  could 
get  into  the  square,  assembled  and  listened  for  hours 
to  fervid  oratory.  The  people  had  to  come  because 
the  Soviet  ordered  them  to,  and  very  likely  they  en- 
joyed themselves  at  first.  Even  in  Russia,  however, 
a  continual  political  meeting,  carried  on  three 
months  at  a  time,  every  day  at  5  p.  m.,  must  be  a 
trial. 

Tomsk  was  another  city  where  the  right  of  small 
peoples  to  govern  themselves  was  demonstrated  last 
summer.  In  the  newspapers  of  June  8,  old  style,  ap- 
peared a  telegram  from  Tomsk  to  Minister-Presi- 
dent Kerensky,  the  Minister  of  Justice  and  the  all- 
Russian  Council  of  Deputies,  Workmen  and  Sol- 
diers, then  in  session  in  Petrograd.  The  telegram 
was  sent  by  the  commanding  general  of  loyal  regi- 
ments and  it  read  in  part  thus:  "Criminal  and  mu- 
tinous soldiers  in  company  with  other  criminal  ele- 
ments of  the  population  have  organized  themselves 
into  bands  and  have  set  themselves  systematically 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  SMALL  NATIONS      213 

to  pillage  and  assassination.  Under  the  flag  of  an- 
archy they  have  looted  the  banks,  the  shops,  busi- 
ness houses  of  all  kinds.  They  were  prepared  to 
murder  all  heads  of  public  organizations,  and  de- 
clared that  they  would  next  move  on  to  other  towns 
and  cities  and  continue  their  robberies  there." 

The  telegram  went  into  more  particulars  of  these 
outrages,  and  closed  by  saying  that  martial  law  had 
been  established  in  Tomsk  on  the  3d  of  June,  2,300 
persons  had  been  arrested  and  the  city,  thanks  to 
the  presence  there  of  a  few  brave  and  loyal  troops, 
was  now  in  order. 

Thus  the  tale  could  be  continued.  Finland,  usu- 
ally a  peaceful,  orderly,  law-abiding  and  intelligent 
country,  by  far  the  most  enlightened  in  Russia,  lost 
its  head  completely  over  the  right  of  small  peoples' 
idea.  Helsingfors  has  seen  days  of  violence  in  the 
old  years  of  rule  by  fire  and  sword.  But  Finland  has 
never  answered  with  fire  and  sword,  but  by  the  most 
intelligent  kind  of  passive  resistance.  With  the 
revolution  passive  resistance  became  violence.  Most 
of  this,  it  is  true,  came  from  soldiers  and  sailors 
of  Sveaborg,  the  island  fortress  of  Helsingfors. 
Murder  of  officers  went  on  there  and  in  the  town 
also.  Marines  pursued  their  hapless  officers  through 
the  streets,  cutting  them  down  with  swords  and 
knives,  shooting  them  and  killing  them  by  torture  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  women  and  children.  The  townspeo- 
ple did  no  such  shocking  deeds  as  that,  but  there  were 
bloody  strikes  and  many  riots,  and  finally  the  at- 
tempt to  open  an  illegal  diet  and  to  force  a  separa- 
tion from  the  empire.  Kerensky  handled  that  sit- 
uation very  well,  sending  the  best  men  in  the  gov- 


214    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

ernment  to  Helsingfors,  where  some  kind  of  a  truce, 
temporary  no  doubt,  but  a  truce,  was  patched  up. 

Kerensky's  fiercest  battle  last  summer  was  with 
Ukrania,  where  a  real  government  was  established. 
It  was  real  enough  at  all  events  to  force  a  kind  of 
recognition  from  the  central  Provisional  Govern- 
ment. Ukrania  is  an  enormous  territory  in  the 
south  of  Russia.  It  extends  into  southwestern  Si- 
beria and  southward  to  the  Black  Sea.  Odessa  is 
its  principal  port,  and  within  its  borders  are  many 
important  cities.  Kiev  is  one  of  the  largest  of  these. 
About  35,000,000  people  inhabit  the  Ukraine,  as 
it  is  called  in  Russia.  The  people  are  not  Russian, 
strictly  speaking.  They  are  Slavs,  but  they  have  a 
language  of  their  own,  a  literature,  a  culture.  They 
have  been  Russian  subjects  for  nearly  300  years. 

The  Ukraine  is  a  self-contained  country  and  could 
be  made  a  very  rich  one.  It  is  rich  already  in  agri- 
cultural resources,  the  "black  earth"  of  certain  re- 
gions producing  the  most  splendid  crops  of  wheat 
and  other  grains.  The  fruits  of  the  Ukraine  are  the 
best  in  Russia,  and  the  vineyards  furnish  grapes  for 
excellent  wines.  Russia  would  be  poor  indeed 
without  this  country. 

Last  June  the  Ukranian  Rada,  or  local  diet,  voted 
to  establish  a  republic,  restore  the  old  language  and 
customs,  and  cut  themselves  off  absolutely  from  the 
Russian  empire.  They  actually  created  a  provi- 
sional government  on  the  spot.  Some  of  the  more 
moderate  members  of  the  Rada  favored  remaining 
in  the  empire  as  a  federated  state  having  complete 
autonomy,  and  this  was  finally  accepted,  I  believe, 
by  the  majority.     But  immediately  the  Bolsheviki 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  SMALL  NATIONS      215 

of  the  south  began  to  clamor  for  separation,  and  the 
Ukranians  in  the  army  began  to  show  dangerous 
signs  of  unrest.  A  congress  of  Ukranian  armies  was 
held  in  Kiev  in  the  middle  of  June,  in  which  it  was 
decided  that  the  armies  of  the  south  and  southwest 
ought  to  be  completely  and  exclusively  made  up  of 
Ukranians.  If  this  had  been  done  the  Rada  would 
have  been  in  a  perfect  state  to  dictate  terms  of  any 
kind  to  the  Russian  Provisional  Government. 

As  it  was  there  was  considerable  dictating  done. 
The  military  rada,  meeting  in  June  in  Odessa,  served 
notice  on  the  Provisional  Government  that  unless  the 
Ukranian  soldiers  were  prevented  from  forming 
their  own  regiments  no  more  soldiers  of  their  force 
would  be  sent  to  the  front.  The  Ukranian  regi- 
ments were  formed,  some  of  them  in  Petrograd,  and 
the  strains  of  the  national  hymn,  "Ukrania  is  not 
dead,"  were  heard  on  the  streets,  played  by  rnili^ 
tary  bands  or  sung  by  soldiers,  almost  as  often  as 
the  classic  "Marseillaise." 

Kerensky  made  a  frantic  dash  to  Odessa,  to  Kiev 
and  other  cities  of  the  Ukraine.  He  took  with  him 
Tereshtshenko,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  one 
or  two  other  ministers,  and  they  met  the  new  provi- 
sional government  in  parley.  The  result  was  that 
Kerensky  made  a  complete  surrender,  recognized 
the  provisional  government — at  least  informally — 
and  agreed  that  the  Ukraine  should  be  a  separate 
state.  There  was  a  perfect  tempest  of  protest  when 
the  ministers  returned  to  Petrograd.  The  rest  of 
the  ministry  declared  that  Kerensky  had  overstepped 
his  authority  in  committing  the  entire  government  to 
a  policy  which  ought  to  have  been  left  to  the  constit- 


216     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

uent  assembly  to  decide.  They  said  that  his  act,  en- 
tered into  without  the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the 
full  government,  was  illegal.  Perhaps  it  was;  but 
it  stood,  and  all  the  most  aggrieved  ministers  could 
do  about  it  was  to  resign. 

The  greatest  task  ahead  of  Russia  is  federation, 
and  she  probably  will  in  the  end  learn  how  to  give 
autonomy  to  her  states  and  establish  a  central  gov- 
ernment which  will  bind  all  the  states  together  in 
happy  union.  But  she  has  years  of  strife  and  monu- 
mental effort  ahead  of  her  before  the  task  is  done. 
The  wisest  men  in  Russia — even  Prof.  Miliukoff, 
who  lived  for  years  in  the  United  States — appear 
to  be  in  a  complete  fog  on  the  subject  of  federation. 
Half  the  wise  men  want  an  empire  like  Great  Brit- 
ain or  Germany,  with  practically  all  the  power  in 
one  central  governing  body.  The  other  half  see 
nothing  ahead  but  dismemberment  of  the  empire. 
Nobody  apparently  can  see  Russia  as  another 
United  States. 

I  believe  that  part  of  our  responsibility,  after  the 
war — perhaps  before  that  time  comes — will  be  to 
teach  Russia  how  to  establish  a  peaceful  federation 
on  republican  lines.  Russia  perhaps  does  not  need 
to  be  taught  democracy.  When  she  emerges  from 
this  present  anarchy  she  may  be  trusted  to  establish 
a  safely  democratic  civilization. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

WILL  THE  GERMANS  TAKE  PETROGRAD? 

Will  the  German  army  get  to  Petrograd  and 
Moscow?  The  answer  to  this  question  is,  they  prob- 
ably can  if  they  want  to,  but  it  is  hardly  possible  that 
they  do.  If  they  have  that  object,  and  if  they  suc- 
ceed in  taking  Moscow  it  will  simply  add  one  more 
to  the  psychological  blunders  committed  by  the  Ger- 
man government  since  the  war  began.  The  disor- 
ganized Russian  army  might  not  pull  itself  together 
and  fight  for  Petrograd,  but  the  army  and  the  peo- 
ple would  fight  to  the  death  for  Moscow.  It  is 
their  holy  city,  their  crown  of  glory,  their  dream. 
Moscow  is  Russia,  and  one  who  has  never  seen  it 
knows  not  the  Russian  people. 

Petrograd  is  a  modern  European  city,  built  by 
Peter  the  Great  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and  by  Catherine  II,  also  called  "the 
Great,"  in  the  latter  half  of  the  same  century.  Peter, 
who  would  have  been  a  master  man  in  any  century 
and  in  any  country,  whether  born  in  a  palace  or  a 
farmhouse,  was  all  the  more  a  marvel  because  he 
was  a  Russian,  born  at  a  time  when  the  Russian  peo- 
ple were  still  medieval  and  still  oriental.  Peter 
didn't  allow  the  fact  that  he  was  heir  to  an  oriental 
autocracy  to  interfere  with  his  ambitions  or  his  activi- 
ties.   He  left  the  golden  palace  in  the  Kremlin,  left 

217 


218     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

Moscow,  the  capital,  and  sacred  heart  of  the  em- 
pire, left  Russia  altogether,  and  went  off  to  be- 
come a  day  laborer  in  the  shipyards  of  England  and 
Holland.  Peter  learned  what  he  could  in  a  short 
time  and  went  back  to  establish  western  civilization 
in  Russia.  He  chose  the  site  of  his  new  capital  much 
as  the  United  States  Steel  Company  chose  the  site  of 
Gary,  Ind.,  for  its  nearness  to  a  good  harbor,  its 
easy  access  to  trade  routes  and  its  fine  front  view 
of  the  best  commercial  centers.  Peter  called  his 
city  "a  window  toward  Europe." 

Petersburg,  as  it  was  styled  by  the  half  German 
Peter,  was  a  more  stupendous  piece  of  engi- 
neering than  Gary,  Ind.,  although  the  steel  town  is 
one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  of  engineering  this 
country  can  boast.  It  was  built  on  a  marsh 
which  nowhere  rose  above  the  muddy  waters  of  the 
Neva  more  than  two  or  three  feet,  and  in  most 
places  was  partially  or  wholly  submerged.  That 
marsh  never  has  been  completely  drained.  When, 
in  1765,  St.  Isaac's  Cathedral  was  built  to  replace  a 
small  wooden  church  of  Peter's  time,  they  first  had 
to  drive  over  twelve  hundred  huge  piles  into  the 
soft  ground.  Of  the  40,000  workmen  who  toiled 
under  Peter's  direction  to  create  the  first  Petrograd 
a  majority  died  from  exposure  and  cold,  and  of 
fevers  bred  in  the  miasmas  of  the  bogs. 

Catherine,  who  became  czarina  a  little  more  than 
half  a  century  later,  vastly  improved  the  city.  She 
enlarged  it,  erecting  many  splendid  palaces  and  pub- 
lic buildings,  and  bringing  in  a  vast  amount  of  west- 
ern culture  in  the  way  of  libraries,  art  galleries  and 
theatres.     The  monuments  of  Peter  and  Catherine 


WILL  THE  GERMANS  TAKE  PETROGRAD?    219 

are  the  most  conspicuous  objects  in  the  capital.  The 
ghosts  of  Catherine  and  Peter  may  be  said  to  walk 
in  every  street  in  Petrograd.  But  the  Russians,  for 
all  their  admiration  for  their  greatest  monarchs, 
have  little  real  love  for  the  city  they  built. 

The  ghost  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  walks  through  the 
streets  of  Moscow;  nevertheless,  the  Russians  love 
the  place  as  the  Mohammedans  love  Mecca.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  cities  in  the  world,  and  one 
of  the  strangest.  It  has  hundreds  of  churches,  so 
gorged  with  art  treasures  and  with  gold,  silver  and 
jewels  that  it  dizzies  the  mind  to  contemplate  them. 
It  has  the  ancient  wall,  foliage-hung,  that  enclosed 
the  Moscow  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  it  has  the 
Kremlin,  or  fortress,  which  antedates  the  town.  In- 
side the  Kremlin  is  the  old  palace  of  the  rulers  of 
Russia  built,  in  part,  centuries  before  they  became 
czars.  The  first  Kremlin  palaces  were  built  by  the 
dukes  of  Moscow  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies. 

Some  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  treasure 
churches  of  the  Kremlin  were  built  by  Ivan  the  Ter- 
rible in  the  sixteenth  century.  One  of  these,  just 
outside  the  walls,  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Basil,  is  a 
gem  of  such  radiance  supreme  that  the  half-mad 
Ivan  determined  that  it  should  never  be  surpassed. 
When  it  was  finished  he  called  the  architect  to  him 
and  asked  him  if  he  thought  he  could  ever  design  a 
better  church.  The  architect,  in  the  pride  and  joy  of 
his  achievement,  modestly  said  that  he  thought  he 
might.  "You  never  will,"  said  the  terrible  Ivan, 
and  he  had  the  man's  eyes  burned  out  with  red-hot 
irons. 


220    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

In  the  great  square  in  front  of  the  Kremlin  still 
stands  the  high  place  of  execution  where  Ivan  and 
the  other  almost  as  terrible  czars  tortured  and  slew 
their  victims.  In  a  side  street  still  stands  the  won- 
derful golden  house  which  was  the  home  and  seat  of 
the  Romanoff  boyars,  and  where  the  first  (or  sec- 
ond) czar  of  Russia  was  born.  Moscow  is  the  very 
symbol  of  czardom;  nevertheless  the  Russians  love 
it  as  their  heart.  Germany  might  send  her  armies 
there,  but  they  could  no  more  take  it,  or  hold  it,  than 
they  could  take  and  hold  Washington.  Inside  the 
Kremlin  walls  lie  heaped  thousands  of  bronze  can- 
nons, bright  and  beautiful  as  snakes,  all  decorated 
with  eagles  and  N's  and  ambitious  mottoes.  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte  left  them  there  when  he  fled,  de- 
feated and  routed  by  the  Russians,  only  to  be  still 
more  soundly  defeated  by  snow  and  storm  and  bitter 
cold.  Those  cannon  are  evidence  indeed  of  the  in- 
vincibility of  Moscow. 

Germany  ought  to  know  that  a  march  on  Moscow, 
however  easy,  would  result  in  unifying  the  Russian 
army  against  the  foe.  Perhaps  Germany  does  not 
know  this,  for  she  seems  not  to  know  anything  about 
the  hearts  and  minds  of  any  people.  The  mechanics 
of  nationality  she  knows  and  understands.  The 
psychology  of  it  she  never  understands.  However, 
I  do  not  believe  that  Germany's  recent  attack  and 
partial  conquest  of  the  islands  before  Riga  are  a 
prelude  to  a  march  on  the  capital  or  on  Moscow. 
What  Germany  probably  wants  is  the  splendid  loot 
to  be  found  in  Courland  and  Esthonia.  Riga,  which 
is  a  city  of  400,000  inhabitants,  is,  next  to  Petro- 
grad,  the  most  important  port  on  the  Baltic  Sea. 


WILL  THE  GERMANS  TAKE  PETROGRAD?    221 

Out  from  Riga  go  immense  exports  of  timber,  flax 
and  hemp,  linseed  and  many  cereals.  The  country 
east  and  south  of  Riga  produces  these  things  in  great 
quantity,  and  Germany  needs  them  in  her  business 
just  now,  and  needs  them  badly  enough  to  risk  a 
few  of  her  ships  and  men  to  get  them. 

Germany  is  not  after  conquest,  this  trip;  she  is 
after  food  and  fuel  and  supplies.  A  little  south  of 
Riga  lie  the  Governments  of  Kovno,  Vilna  and 
Minsk,  and  a  little  south  and  west  lies  Russian  Po- 
land, already  partially  in  German  hands.  I  traveled 
through  part  of  that  country  last  summer  and 
watched  through  the  train  windows  vast  fields  of 
rye  and  wheat,  and  thousands  of  acres  of  potatoes. 
I  did  not  see  many  sugar-beet  fields,  but  they  lie 
somewhere  in  that  region — hundreds  of  thousands 
of  acres  of  them,  already  harvested  or  waiting  to 
be  harvested.  And  Germany  is  hungry  for  those 
harvests. 

There  may  be  other  reasons  why  Germany  is 
pounding  so  desperately  at  the  defenses  of  Riga. 
Not  very  far  away,  to  the  north,  washed  by  the  same 
Baltic  Sea,  lies  the  grand  duchy  of  Finland,  the  one 
province  of  the  Russian  empire  which  has  shown 
friendliness  to  Germany.  Finland  is  also  the  one 
province  which  has  already  declared  its  unalterable 
determination  not  to  belong  further  to  the  Russian 
empire.  Finland  wishes  to  set  up  a  separate  gov- 
ernment and  to  be  an  independent  state.  At  least 
the  mass  of  the  people,  expressing  themselves 
through  a  Socialist  majority  in  the  local  Diet,  has 
declared  for  this  policy. 

It  would  be  tremendously  to  the  advantage  of 


222     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

Germany  to  have  the  big  Russian  empire  split  up 
into  separate  states,  and  the  German  government  has 
worked  assiduously  to  encourage  the  Finnish  people 
in  their  secession  policy.  Finland  is  such  a  Mecca 
for  German  agents,  and  so  many  Finns  are  in  the 
pay  of  these  agents,  that  the  provisional  government 
last  July  practically  shut  the  grand  duchy  off,  ma- 
rooned it,  so  to  speak,  from  the  rest  of  the  empire. 
A  traveler  cannot  go  to  Finland  from  Russia  with- 
out special  permission  obtained  from  the  war  minis- 
try. A  resident  of  Petrograd  could  not  go  down  to 
one  of  the  numerous  and  charming  Finnish  seaside 
towns  near  the  capital,  even  for  a  week-end  visit, 
without  such  a  permit.  I  have  spent  some  time  in 
Finland  and  know  a  great  many  people  in  Helsing- 
fors,  the  capital.  I  tried  to  get  a  permit  to  stop  in 
Helsingfors  on  my  way  out  of  Russia,  but  the  war 
ministry  refused  to  grant  the  permit. 

When  the  traveler  left  Russia  for  England  or 
the  United  States,  for  any  country,  for  that  matter, 
he  had  to  take  a  certain  train  leaving  Petrograd  at 
7.30  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  he  left  that  train 
just  once  before  he  reached  the  frontier.  That  once 
is  at  Beli  Ostrov,  for  the  customs  inspection.  After 
that  the  traveler  was  a  prisoner  in  his  train  until  he 
reached  Tornea,  where  he  was  finally  inspected  and 
convoyed  across  a  narrow  stretch  of  water  to  Swe- 
den. That  was  the  attitude  of  the  Russian  provi- 
sional government  toward  Finland. 

The  grand  duchy  is  rightly  considered  one  of  the 
greatest  menaces  to  the  future  integrity  of  the  em- 
pire. It  is  rightly  considered  by  Germany  a  hope 
for  the  future  of  Germany,  and  it  may  very  well 


WILL  THE  GERMANS  TAKE  PETROGRAD?    223 

be  that  the  German  navy  expects  and  hopes  to  fol- 
low up  the  conquest  of  the  Baltic  port  of  Riga  with 
a  conquest  of  the  Baltic  port  of  Helsingfors.  Fin- 
land detests  Russia  to  such  an  extent  that  she  is  ap- 
parently blind  to  the  danger  of  a  friendship  with 
Germany.  For  fifty  years  she  has  hated  and  feared 
Russia,  and  she  apparently  cannot  get  it  into  her 
head  that  the  thing  she  hated  and  feared  has  gone 
forever.  I  have  observed  this  state  of  mind  in  Poles 
as  well  as  Finns.  They  have  hated  Russia  so  long 
that  they  cannot  stop  all  at  once.  The  Finns  have 
hated  Russia  so  hard  that  they  would  not  even  look 
at  the  Russian  soldiers  quartered  on  them  by  the 
old  government.  I  spent  the  winter  of  19 13  in  Hel- 
singfors, and  it  was  one  of  the  sights  of  the  place  to 
me  to  watch  the  Finns  cut  the  Russians  in  the  street 
every  day.  A  regiment  of  Russians  marched  through 
the  streets,  bands  playing,  swords  clanking,  feet 
tramping,  a  gorgeous  sight.  But  the  soldiers  might 
as  well  have  been  invisible  phantoms  for  all  the  no- 
tice taken  of  them  by  the  Finns.  They  walked  qui- 
etly along,  attending  to  their  business,  conversing 
or  chatting  with  their  neighbors,  never  looking  at 
the  Russians.  In  fact,  it  was  a  point  of  honor  with 
the  Finns  never  to  look  at  a  Russian.  As  for  speak- 
ing to  one,  knowing  him,  inviting  him  to  his  house, 
a  Finn  who  did  such  a  thing  would  have  been  ostra- 
cized.   Even  the  smallest  children  knew  that. 

This  being  the  state  of  mind  of  the  Finns,  it  is 
explainable  in  a  measure  why,  in  order  to  wring  their 
independence  from  Russia  now,  they  are  willing  to 
run  a  very  great  risk  of  being  absorbed  or  badly  ex- 
ploited by  the  Germany  of  after  the  war.     They 


224    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

became  part  of  the  Russian  empire  willingly,  hav- 
ing been  on  very  bad  terms  for  a  number  of  years 
with  their  old  over-lord,  Sweden.  This  was  in  1801. 
Then  the  Czar  made  a  solemn  compact  with  Finland, 
both  for  himself  and  his  heirs,  that  the  country 
should  have  almost  complete  autonomy.  It  was  to 
maintain  its  own  army,  which  would  never  be  called 
upon  to  serve  on  Russian  soil,  but  should  defend  the 
Finnish  coast  and  border  in  case  Russia  was  in- 
volved in  war. 

Finland  was  to  have  her  own  coinage,  postal  sys- 
tems, schools,  courts,  language  and  her  own  local 
diet.  The  Czar  retained  the  right  of  vetoing  legis- 
lation, the  right  to  collect  foreign  customs  and  other 
imperial  rights.  Almost  every  promise  made  in  that 
treaty  has  been  broken  by  the  czars  of  Russia,  es- 
pecially by  Nicholas  II,  now  in  Siberia.  This  Nich- 
olas tried  to  break  the  treaty  altogether,  abolish  it, 
but  the  Finns  were  too  intelligent,  too  clear-headed 
and  too  united  to  let  him  do  it.  Their  resistance 
to  his  tyrannous  treachery  is  a  thrilling  story  in  it- 
self. Finland  has  never  broken  any  part  of  her 
treaty  with  Russia,  but  now  she  wants  to  abolish  the 
treaty.  The  contention  is  that  the  treaty  was  made 
with  the  czars  of  Russia,  and,  now  that  there  are  now 
no  more  czars,  the  treaty  has  ceased  to  hold  good. 
Finland  is  full  of  German  agents,  and  they  must  have 
invented  this  brilliant  piece  of  reasoning  and  taught 
it  to  the  Finnish  Socialists.  At  all  events,  they  must 
have  fostered  it  with  might  and  main,  and  perhaps 
the  German  navy  believes  that  a  visit  to  Helsingfors 
would  convert  the  whole  country  to  it. 

There  is  even  a  better  reason  why  the  German 


WILL  THE  GERMANS  TAKE  PETROGRAD?    225 

navy  has  been  pounding  away  in  the  Gulf  of  Fin- 
land, and  why  in  the  spring  it  will  pound  again. 
Germany  seeks  to  separate  still  further  Russia  and 
her  allies.  There  are  only  three  ways  by  which 
Russia  can  communicate  with  Europe  and  America. 
One  of  these  ways  is  across  Siberia  and  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  a  long  distance.  Another  way,  through 
Archangel,  is  a  summer  way  only.  The  third  and 
shortest  way  is  through  Finland  and  Sweden.  If 
Germany  can  partially  take  Finland  and  seize  the 
railroad  which  leads  to  Sweden,  and  there  is  only 
one  main  line  of  railroad,  she  can  cut  Russia  off 
from  her  allies  very  effectively.  Perhaps  her  next 
step  would  be  to  interfere,  by  means  of  submarines, 
with  Russia's  other  outlet  in  the  Pacific. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

Russia's  greatest  needs 

It  would  be  a  very  terrible  thing  for  democracy 
and  the  world's  peace  if  the  Allies,  observing  the 
anarchy  into  which  Russia  has  fallen,  should  relax 
any  of  their  efforts  to  help  her  back  to  a  sound  mili- 
tary, economic  and  social  foundation.  The  first  im- 
pulse is  to  beseech  the  United  States  government  to 
refuse  to  loan  money  to  such  an  unstable  govern- 
ment, and  even  to  decline  to  send  Red  Cross  relief 
to  a  people  who  will  not  try  to  help  themselves.  But 
second  thought  reveals  the  unwisdom  of  deserting 
Russia  in  her  crisis,  however  wilfully  the  crisis  was 
brought  on.  We  must  loan  money  to  Russia  even 
though  we  lose  the  money.  We  must  send  her  food 
and  supplies  even  though  they  be  received  without 
much  gratitude.  For  the  sake  of  democracy,  to 
which  revivified  and  regenerated  Russia  has  a  world 
to  contribute,  we  must  help  her  now.  The  task  will 
not  be  as  difficult  as  the  surface  facts  indicate.  Rus- 
sia is  rapidly  approaching  the  climax  of  her  woe. 

Aside  from  her  military  situation,  bankruptcy  is 
coming  if  it  is  not  already  there.  Bankruptcy  for 
the  national  treasury,  for  few  taxes  are  being  paid. 
Bankruptcy  for  food,  clothing,  fuel  for  all  the  people 
except  a  few  on  the  farms,  and  even  they  will  suffer 

226 


RUSSIA'S  GREATEST  NEEDS  227 

for  many  things.  Hunger  and  cold  are  at  the  door. 
The  Russian  army  may  rally,  may  turn  on  the  Ger- 
mans and  magnificently  retrieve  its  lost  reputation  as 
a  fighting  force.  But  there  is  no  way  in  which  the 
army  of  producers,  the  farmers  and  the  working 
people,  can  rout  the  enemy  they  have  admitted  with- 
in the  lines. 

The  farmer  class  of  Russia  this  year  did  not  pro- 
duce full  crops,  and  they  refused  to  send  to  market 
a  very  large  proportion  of  what  they  did  produce. 
They  hoarded  their  grain  for  their  own  use  and 
some  of  it  at  least  they  have  turned  into  vodka.  In 
the  towns  and  cities  of  Russia  prohibition  almost 
prohibits,  but  the  peasant  very  quickly  learned  the 
art  of  illicit  distilling,  and  I  heard  on  authority  I 
could  scarcely  question  that  stills  have  been  estab- 
lished in  half  the  villages  of  Russia.  The  statement 
is  borne  out  to  some  extent  by  the  fact  that  drunken- 
ness among  soldiers  is  increasing,  especially  in  places 
remote  from  the  larger  cities.  In  Petrograd  I  saw 
little  drunkenness,  but  the  farther  I  traveled  south- 
ward into  the  farming  area  the  more  I  saw  and 
heard  of  it.  At  the  military  position  in  Poland  where 
the  Botchkareva  Battalion  of  Death  was  stationed, 
I  talked  with  a  soldier  who  had  lived  in  America. 
In  the  course  of  our  conversation  he  mentioned  that 
a  group  in  his  regiment  had  got  drunk  and  were  in 
trouble. 

"Where  could  they  get  liquor?"  I  asked. 

"Oh,  they  get  it,"  he  replied.  "It's  new  and  it's 
quite  horrible,  but  they  drink  it." 

Serious  as  the  grain  shortage  was,  the  transporta- 
tion situation  was  still  more  serious.  Food  for  which 


228    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

Petrograd  and  Moscow  would  pay  almost  any 
money,  rotted  on  the  ground,  spoiled  in  the  half- 
loaded  freight  cars,  and  wasted  in  congested  way  sta- 
tions for  lack  of  transportation  facilities  and  for 
lack  of  labor.  In  the  industrial  world  things  were  as 
bad.  The  working  people,  blind  to  their  own  peril, 
had  shortened  hours  of  work,  had  gone  slack  on 
their  jobs,  and  had  voted  themselves  wages  far  in 
excess  of  their  productive  activities.  The  conse- 
quences were  rapidly  accumulating.  Factories  were 
closing  down,  partly  because  they  could  not  get  coal 
and  partly  because  of  the  extortions  of  labor.  Soon 
there  will  be  gaunt  famine  in  the  land.  The  work- 
ing people  will  know  what  it  is  to  go  hungry  with 
their  pockets  full  of  money. 

When  these  troubles  culminate — and  in  a  few 
weeks  at  the  most,  the  world  will  stand  aghast  at 
Russia's  state — the  orgy  of  the  Bolsheviki,  the  riot 
of  the  dreamers  will  end.  Human  nature  is  the  same 
in  Russia  as  it  is  elsewhere,  the  same  as  it  is  in  New 
York  or  in  Emporia,  Kansas.  We  all  know  how, 
when  hard  times  pinch  the  country,  the  Republican 
party  elects  its  candidates.  The  people  follow  their 
theorizing  and  dreaming  leaders  in  good  times,  but 
when  the  hard  times  come  they  turn  to  the  party  of 
strong  business  men  to  set  them  on  their  feet  again. 
The  full  dinner  pail  argument  is  going  to  appeal 
strongly  to  the  Russian  masses  this  coming  winter, 
and  if  the  constituent  assembly  is  postponed  until 
the  autumn  of  191 8,  I  am  confident  that  the  people 
will  vote  in  favor,  not  of  a  socialistic  millennium 
that  will  not  work,  but  for  a  sane,  practical  democ- 
racy that  will. 


RUSSIA'S  GREATEST  NEEDS  229 

What  Russia  needs  above  all  other  things  is  lead- 
ers. What  the  people  of  this  country  must  do  for 
Russia  is  to  help  her  find  and  develop  those  leaders. 
They  are  there  somewhere.  Russia  has  shown  that 
she  can  produce  great  men  and  great  women,  people 
whom  any  nation  might  be  proud  to  follow.  But 
under  czardom  the  only  people  permitted  to  lead 
were  so  corrupt,  so  reactionary  and  tyrannical  that 
the  Russians  learned  to  fear  and  distrust  all  leader- 
ship. When  they  overthrew  czardom  and  banished 
the  tyrants  and  the  corruptionists  they  thought  they 
could  get  along  without  any  leaders.  The  world 
knows  now  how  fatal  was  their  mistake,  and  very 
soon  the  blindest  of  the  blind  in  Russia  will  know  it. 

Russia  needs  not  only  political  leaders,  she  needs, 
even  more  urgently,  leaders  in  the  economic  field. 
She  needs  at  the  present  time  a  business  man  of  the 
caliber  of  Mark  Hanna,  a  man  who,  with  a  better 
ethical  standard,  possesses  Mark  Hanna's  great  ge- 
nius for  organization,  his  marvelous  executive  abil- 
ity. Such  a  man  rarely  dazzles  the  public  with  ora- 
torical powers.  He  wastes  little  energy  in  speech. 
But  he  knows  exactly  what  to  do.  He  says  to  one 
man  "come"  and  to  another  man  "go,"  and  you 
may  depend  on  it  they  are  precisely  the  right  men 
at  the  right  jobs.  He  says  to  all  about  him,  "Do 
this,"  and  they  do  it  "to  the  king's  taste."  Russia 
needs  many  such  men. 

Nobody  need  be  a  slave  under  leaders,  responsible 
and  removable,  like  that.  We  were,  in  the  United 
States,  until  we  got  our  eyes  a  little  open.  We  sink 
back  once  in  a  while  still.  Witness  some  of  our 
municipal  governments.     But  freedom  under  strong 


23o    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

leadership  is  entirely  possible.  In  fact,  it  is  the  only 
real  freedom  there  is  in  the  world. 

The  Russians  may  have  a  difficult  time  achieving 
it,  for  they  are  not  quite  the  hard-fibered,  ambitious, 
struggling  race  the  English,  French  and  Americans 
are.  They  are  fatalistic  and  dreamy.  That  is  the 
reason  they  endured  their  autocrats  so  long.  But 
in  the  end  they  will  achieve  it. 

Russia  needs  education,  and  here  again  America 
must  show  her  the  way.  A  public  school  system 
on  the  best  lines  we  have  been  able  to  develop  will 
make  over  the  Russian  people  in  ont  generation. 
Ninety  per  cent,  of  the  present  population  is  said  to 
be  illiterate.  The  old  government  tried  within  the 
past  ten  years  to  extend  the  common  schools,  but 
with  little  effect  on  illiteracy.  The  mass  of  the 
children  were  given  two  years  of  schooling,  with 
the  object  of  teaching  them  at  least  to  read  and 
write.  Most  of  them  barely  learned  and  practically 
all  forgot,  because  they  were  not  encouraged  to  use 
their  tiny  bit  of  knowledge.  Russia  has  no  concep- 
tion of  the  public  library  as  we  have  developed  it. 
There  are  libraries,  magnificent  ones,  in  the  cities. 
But  they  are  reference  libraries  for  the  learned, 
not  reading  and  lending  libraries  for  the  masses.  I 
am  sure  there  is  not  such  a  thing  in  Russia  as  a 
children's  library,  much  less  a  librarian  especially 
trained  and  paid  to  teach  children  how  to  use  and 
to  love  books.  Russia  needs  schools  to  teach  chil- 
dren knowledge  and  she  needs  libraries  very  near, 
if  not  directly  attached,  to  the  schools.  I  talked  to 
many  people  in  Russia  about  the  wonderful  Gary 
schools,  in  which  children  work,  study  and  play  their 


RUSSIA'S  GREATEST  NEEDS  231 

way  to  fine,  strong,  thinking  manhood  and  woman- 
hood, and  in  every  case  the  response  was  the  same. 
"We  must  have  schools  like  that  all  over  Russia. 
Will  you  help  us,  when  the  time  comes,  to  organize 
them?" 

They  cannot  hope,  of  course,  to  go  at  once  into  all 
the  intensive  work  of  the  Gary  public  school  system, 
but  they  can  adopt  its  general  principles  and  its  du- 
plicate use  of  the  school  plant.  In  this  way  they 
will  be  able  to  educate  more  children  in  each  school 
house  and  thus  hasten  the  day  when  all  the  children 
will  be  in  school.  William  Wirt's  next  great  work 
may  be  organizing  school  systems  in  new  Russia. 
Having  no  old  system  to  replace,  he  will  not  meet 
with  the  stupid  and  criminal  obstruction  and  oppo- 
sition with  which  his  labors  in  New  York  were  met. 

Russia  needs  wholesome  popular  amusements  to 
entertain  and  instruct  her  adult  population.  If  I 
were  to  write  a  detailed  list  of  Russia's  most  press- 
ing needs  I  should  place  near  the  head  of  the  list 
plumbers  and  moving  pictures.  The  empire  is  back 
in  the  dark  ages  as  far  as  building  sanitation  is  con- 
cerned. That  is  no  small  thing,  because  it  affects 
both  the  health  and  the  morals  of  a  people.  It 
affects  their  manners  also,  as  any  one  who  ever  had 
to  enter  the  lavatory  of  a  Russian  railroad  carriage 
or  station  can  testify. 

They  have  some  moving  picture  theaters  in  Rus- 
sia, but  they  are  poor  in  performance  and  frightfully 
high-priced.  You  pay  as  much  to  go  to  the  movies 
in  Russia  as  you  pay  to  hear  a  high  class  symphony 
concert.  I  never  saw  a  10  and  15  cent  motion  pic- 
ture house,  nor  could  I  learn  that  they  existed  any- 


232    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

where  in  the  empire.  Mrs.  Pankhurst  and  I  went 
to  the  movies  one  night,  paying  something  like  a 
dollar  and  a  half  for  our  seats.  The  play  was  a 
long,  dreary  drama,  ending  in  suicide  and  general 
misery.  The  acting  was  poor  and  the  actors  fat 
and  elderly.  For  current  events  pictures  they  pre- 
sented the  Cossack  funeral,  reeled  off  at  such  a  dizzy 
pace  that  it  looked  less  like  a  funeral  than  an  auto- 
mobile race. 

Moving  pictures,  carefully  selected,  offered  for  a 
small  admission  fee,  would  be  a  boon  to  Russia. 
They  would  teach  the  grown  people  a  thousand  and 
one  things  they  have  never  had  a  chance  to  learn, 
and  they  would  perhaps  get  the  Russian  mind  out 
of  its  habit  of  ingrowing,  self-torturing  analysis  that 
leads  to  nowhere.  They  would  also  give  the  Tava- 
rishi  something  to  do  besides  soap  box  spouting,  and 
their  listeners  something  more  to  think  about  than 
half-baked  social  theories.  Because  of  the  great  il- 
literacy of  the  masses,  Russia  would  have  to  intro- 
duce into  her  picture  theaters  an  institution  which 
Spain  has  already  established.  In  Spain  few  people 
can  read  the  titles  and  captions  that  run  through 
the  picture  dramas,  so  each  theater  has  a  public 
reader,  a  man  with  a  strong  voice  and  clear  enun- 
ciation, who  reads  aloud  to  the  audience,  and  also 
makes  any  explanations  that  are  necessary. 

I  know  exactly  where  moving  pictures  for  the 
masses  could  be  shown  in  Petrograd  without  waiting 
for  private  enterprise  to  open  theaters.  On  the  west 
bank  of  the  Neva,  not  far  from  the  sinister  fortress 
of  Peter  and  Paul,  stands  the  best  and  most  demo- 
cratic monument  to  Russian  enterprise  in  the  capital. 


RUSSIA'S  GREATEST  NEEDS  233 

This  is  known  as  the  Narodny  Dom,  or  People's 
House,  a  combination  club  house,  restaurant,  theater 
and  general  meeting  place  of  the  working  classes, 
founded  by  Prince  Alexander  of  Oldenburg  and  lib- 
erally  supported  by  the  late  Czar. 

They  have  some  fine  concerts  there,  in  times  of 
peace,  and  an  excellent  drama  for  the  more  intelli- 
gent of  the  workers.  Admission  prices  are  fairly 
low  and  the  performances  good.  For  the  less  intel- 
lectual there  are  certain  Coney  Island  features,  and 
these  are  so  well  patronized  that  the  concessionaries 
were  well  on  the  road  to  vast  wealth.  Long  lines 
of  people  waited  every  evening  for  a  turn  on  the 
chutes  or  the  roller  coaster.  Their  absolute  hunger 
for  a  little  amusement,  a  chance  to  laugh  and  be  gay 
is  pathetic  to  witness. 

Another  thing  Russia  needs  is  the  soda  fountain. 
A  cold  soft  drink  in  summer  and  a  hot  chocolate 
in  winter,  easily  accessible  and  cheap,  would  do  more 
to  take  Ivan's  mind  off  moonshining  vodka  than  all 
the  laws  in  the  world.  Last  summer  there  were 
times  when  I  would  cheerfully  have  given  a  dollar 
for  a  frosty  glass  of  soda,  any  kind,  any  flavor.  And 
there  were  plenty  of  others  in  Petrograd  of  my  mind. 

The  best  place  to  have  luncheon  in  Petrograd  is 
at  the  officers'  stores  in  the  street  which  bears  the 
appalling  name  of  Bolshaia  Konnyushennyaia.  Here 
the  food,  government  supplied,  is  good  and  it  is  sold 
for  something  approaching  reasonable  prices.  The 
best  meal  I  had  every  day  was  luncheon  at  the  offi- 
cers' stores.  The  place  is  crowded  from  1 1  to  4 
every  week-day,  military  men  and  their  families  pre- 
dominating.    Once,  on  a  hot  July  day,  there  ap- 


234    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

peared  on  the  counter  where  hors  d'oeuvres  were 
sold  a  cold  delicious  drink.  It  was  a  sort  of  cherry 
phosphate,  and  there  were  glass  pitchers  and  pitch- 
ers of  it,  literally  gallons.  It  sold  for  about  twenty 
cents  a  small  glass,  and  within  half  an  hour  it  was 
gone,  every  drop.  The  crowd  swarmed  to  that 
counter  waving  its  money  in  the  air,  swallowed  the 
cherry  phosphate  in  one  gulp,  so  to  speak,  and  clam- 
ored loudly  for  more.  I  remember  that  I  pleaded 
almost  with  tears  for  a  second  glass  and  could  not 
get  it.  There  is  a  fortune  waiting  for  the  capitalist 
who  will  take  cold,  soft  drinks  to  Russia,  and  he 
will  have  besides  the  fortune  the  additional  satis- 
faction of  bringing  hope  to  the  sodden  victims  of 
vodka. 

An  army  that  will  obey  orders;  a  government  that 
will  govern;  leaders  in  business,  in  transportation, 
in  agriculture  and  a  people  willing  to  obey  those 
leaders;  education,  wholesome  life.  Russia  needs 
all  these,  and  in  her  coming  mighty  struggle  to 
achieve  them  the  whole  world  of  democracy,  and 
especially  our  United  States,  must  lend  willing  and 
sympathetic  help  and  guidance. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

WHAT  NEXT? 

Man  must  hope.  He  must  believe  that  his  fight 
is  a  winning  fight  or  he  must  give  up  in  despair. 
That  is  why  the  Americans  place  credence  in  every 
despatch  from  Russia  which  seems  to  indicate  that 
the  disorganized  fighting  forces  are  being  whipped 
into  form  again.  That  is  why  any  hint  that  Keren- 
sky  had  not  succeeded  in  restoring  order  in  the  em- 
pire was  for  some  time  received  with  incredulity  by 
the  reading  public.  But  why  refuse  to  face  the  facts  ? 
We  must  face  them  some  time. 

In  late  September  I  read  in  one  of  the  newspa- 
pers a  headline  which  stated  that  the  so-called  dem- 
ocratic congress  then  in  session  in  Petrograd  had 
voted  to  sustain  Kerensky's  demand  for  a  coalition 
ministry.  The  headlines  were  wrong.  What  the 
dispatch  really  stated  was  that  the  congress  had 
voted  not  to  form  any  coalition  with  the  bourgeois 
element,  or  with  members  of  the  Constitutional 
Democratic  party.  That  is,  the  congress  would  not 
support  a  ministry  that  had  any  non-socialist  mem- 
bers in  it.  "All  the  power  to  the  Soviets"  was  re- 
tired as  too  conservative  a  slogan.  It  was  "all  the 
power  to  the  Bolsheviki"  then,  for  that  is  precisely 
what  the  vote  in  that  so-called  Democratic  Congress 
meant. 

235 


236    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

Since  June,  19 17,  no  fewer  than  six  congresses 
or  conventions  have  been  held  in  Russia  with  the 
object  of  finding  a  way  out  of  the  chaos  with  which 
the  country  is  threatened.  Every  one  of  them  was 
hailed  beforehand  as  the  one  which  was  going  to 
be  a  revelation  of  the  intentions  and  desires  of  the 
people.  The  most  important  of  these  was  the  all- 
Russia  congress  of  Soviets  held  last  July,  and  before 
that  the  preliminary  convention  to  prepare  for  the 
constituent  assembly.  The  one  was  to  decide  once 
and  for  all  whether  or  not  the  moderate  or  the  ex- 
treme element  in  the  Soviets  was  to  rule,  and  the 
other  was  to  quiet  both  elements  by  showing  that  the 
government  intended  to  prepare  a  liberal  and  a  dem- 
ocratic constitution  for  them  to  debate,  amend  and 
adopt  when  the  time  came.  Lastly,  there  was  the 
great  Moscow  congress  of  last  August.  I  don't  re- 
member what  the  stated  object  of  that  congress  was, 
but  it  does  not  matter  much.  The  real  object  was 
to  find  out  which  was  the  stronger  man,  Kerensky 
or  Korniloff.  Kerensky  won  by  a  narrow  margin, 
a  very  narrow  margin.  And  then  they  held  another 
convention,  and  Kerensky  lost. 

What  will  happen  next  in  that  distracted  country? 
Into  what  new  morass  are  the  people  being  led? 
Frankly,  I  do  not  know.  I  do  not  know  anybody 
who  does.  The  only  analogous  situation  in  modern 
history  is  that  of  the  Poland  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. Poland  had  a  government  quite  as  bad  as  that 
of  the  Russian  Soviets,  or  Council  of  Workmen's 
and  Soldiers'  Delegates.  Instead  of  being  an  all- 
socialist  affair  Poland's  parliament  was  made  up  en- 
tirely of  noblemen.    These  men  were  so  proud,  so 


WHAT  NEXT?  237 

"free"  in  the  New  Russia  sense  of  the  word  that  they 
wouldn't  yield  on  any  question  even  to  a  majority 
vote.  A  single  dissenting  voice  in  their  parliament 
was  enough  to  kill  any  measure.  The  people  of 
Poland  had  no  more  to  say  about  government  than 
the  middle  class  and  the  rich  have  in  the  Russia  of 
to-day.  And  when  a  European  war  on  a  limited 
scale  broke  out,  and  Frederick  the  Great  started  the 
era  of  frightfulness  which  William  the  last  thought 
he  could  bring  to  a  triumphant  conclusion,  the  three 
great  eastern  powers  of  Europe — Russia,  Prussia 
and  Austria — sliced  up  Poland  and  handed  each  of 
the  three  monarchs  a  piece.  Maria  Theresa,  who 
ruled  the  Austria  of  that  day,  wanted  it  printed  in 
the  records  that  she  wept  when  she  took  her  piece, 
but  she  took  it  just  the  same,  and  Poland  has  wept 
ever  since. 

This  could  happen  to  Russia.  She  could  be  dis- 
membered and  handed  around.  But  this  is  not  likely 
to  happen.  The  Allies  would  never  be  so  foolish 
or  so  cruel  as  to  permit  it  to  happen.  Russia  could 
fall  apart  and  become  an  aggregation  of  small  sepa- 
rate states,  but  each  one  of  those  would  still  have 
its  Soviets,  and  consequently  a  government  without 
stability  or  permanence.  Finland  and  the  Ukraine 
are  two  Russian  states  which  are  trying  to  bring 
about  this  end,  and  they  may  succeed,  but  a  dis- 
sected Russia  would  furnish  such  good  material  for 
future  wars  that  the  Allies  can  hardly  afford  to  con- 
sent to  it. 

Civil  war  is  a  fine  possibility  in  Russia  just  now, 
except  that  there  seems  to  be  no  one  at  hand  to  or- 
ganize the  two  forces.    The  strongest  probability  is 


238    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

more  guerilla  warfare,  more  street  fighting,  more 
motor  trucks  loaded  with  machine  guns  rushing  up 
and  down  Petrograd,  more  battle,  murder  and  sud- 
den death,  and  then  the  reaction.  Just  what  form 
the  reaction  will  take  nobody  knows.  But  the  mad 
Bolsheviki  know  that  it  is  coming,  and  though  they 
almost  court  it  they  also  fear  it.  They  call  this  in- 
evitable reaction  the  counter  revolution,  and  they  ex- 
cuse all  their  vagaries,  their  obstinacy,  their  pig- 
headed resistance  to  a  coalition  with  non-socialists 
on  the  ground  that  they  are  fighting  the  counter 
revolution.  I  have  heard  Americans  in  Russia,  col- 
lege professors,  business  men,  correspondents,  even 
members  of  American  commissions,  say:  "Don't 
blame  these  people  too  much  for  their  radicalism. 
They  are  afraid  they  will  lose  all  they  gained  by  the 
revolution.    They  fear  the  return  of  autocracy." 

I  can  say  with  all  confidence  that  whatever  may 
happen  in  Russia,  there  is  not  even  the  remotest 
chance  of  any  counter  revolution,  in  the  sense  meant 
by  the  extremists,  nor  is  there  the  slightest  risk  of 
a  return  of  autocracy.  The  autocracy  collapsed  like 
a  house  of  cards,  and  the  real  surprise  there  was 
in  it  for  the  Duma  members  who  deposed  Nicholas 
was  that  the  thing  was  so  easy.  I  can  imagine  Mili- 
ukov,  Rodzianko  and  the  others  getting  together  af- 
terward and  saying:  "Why  on  earth  didn't  we  do 
this  in  August,  1914?" 

Nobody  wants  the  Czar  back  unless  it  is  the  Ro- 
manoff family,  and  doubtless  each  one  of  the  grand 
dukes  believes  that  if  any  one  came  back  it  ought 
to  be  himself.  The  only  possibility  of  a  return  of 
monarchy  in  Russia  would  result  from  desperation 


WHAT  NEXT?  239 

on  the  part  of  the  men  who  will  finally  restore  order 
there.  The  situation  may  be  so  bad,  when  the  time 
comes  to  do  that,  that  they  may  decide  on  a  limited 
constitutional  monarchy  as  the  best  form  of  govern- 
ment for  people  who  are  not  yet  ready  for  self-gov- 
ernment. A  figurehead  king,  something  visible  to 
the  people  and  symbolizing  government,  but  a  king 
with  responsible  ministers  who  really  rule,  is  a  possi- 
bility for  Russia.  The  inevitable  reaction,  especially 
if  it  is  long  postponed,  may  take  that  form.  I  have 
heard  many  Russians  say  so.  Some  said  it  with 
sorrow,  some  with  satisfaction,  but  there  are  plenty 
of  educated  and  liberal-minded  people  in  Russia  who 
would  welcome  it.  If  it  comes,  I  predict  that  the 
capital  of  Russia  will  be  moved  back  to  Moscow. 
The  constitutional  monarch,  if  they  have  one,  may 
be  that  brother  of  the  late  Czar  who  is  known  in 
Russia  as  Michael  Alexandrovitch,  who  as  one  of 
the  ablest  and  most  enlightened  of  the  Romanoff 
family.  He  is  the  man  who  was  chosen  by  the  first 
provisional  government  to  succeed  the  Czar  when 
the  latter  was  deposed,  and  the  governments  which 
have  followed  have  all  treated  him  with  rather 
especial  consideration.  Last  June  he  asked  permis- 
sion to  leave  turbulent  Petrograd  and  spend  the  sum- 
mer in  his  villa  on  one  of  the  Finnish  lakes.  This 
permission  was  granted,  and  Michael  has  lived  in 
Finland  in  comparative  peace  and  comfort  ever  since. 
The  government  has  not  treated  any  other  Romanoff 
as  well. 

Most  of  the  grand  dukes  and  grand  duchesses  are 
virtually  prisoners  on  their  estates.  The  Empress 
Dowager  is  confined  to  her  estate  in  the  Crimea, 


24o    INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

and  the  government  would  not  even  allow  her  to 
leave  it  to  bid  her  exiled  son  good-by.  But  Michael 
Alexandrovitch  must  have  convinced  the  govern- 
ment that  he  is  trustworthy,  and  he  seems  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  man  who  could  be  brought  out  of  his 
shadowy  background  and  set  up  for  the  people  to 
call  a  king,  if  the  worst  comes  to  the  worst  and  they 
have  to  have  a  king.  This  is  the  most  severe  form 
the  reaction  could  permanently  take  in  Russia,  as 
far  as  I  can  judge.  Of  course  a  military  dictator- 
ship may  precede  this,  but  the  dictatorship  would 
be  a  temporary  thing,  a  war  measure  to  crush  the 
Bolsheviki  and  bring  order  out  of  chaos.  Nobody 
in  Russia,  as  far  as  I  know  and  believe,  wants  a 
counter  revolution  in  the  sense  suggested  by  the 
Bolsheviki.  But  the  counter  revolution,  as  a  bogie 
to  be  held  over  the  heads  of  the  timid  dreamers  and 
of  those  half-hearted  ones  who  shrink  from  blood- 
shed, is  so  useful  that  the  Bolshevik  leaders  worked 
it  hard  all  summer  and  in  the  latest  developments 
they  were  still  at  it. 

The  experience  of  the  French  people  after  their 
revolution  is  often  cited  by  the  timorous  in  Russia. 
It  is  true  that  the  Bourbons  came  back,  but  the 
people  of  France  did  not  call  them  back.  They 
were  put  back  by  the  allied  monarchs  of  Europe, 
aghast  at  the  spread  of  republicanism  in  the  eastern 
hemisphere.  Following  the  revolution  and  the  two 
score  years  of  Napoleonic  wars,  these  rulers  got  to- 
gether, signed  a  secret  agreement  that  the  peace  of 
Europe  depended  on  France  remaining  a  monarchy, 
and  in  1814  they  put  Louis  XVIII  on  the  throne. 
By  virtue  of  giving  the  French  a  liberal  constitution 


WHAT  NEXT?  241 

he  kept  the  throne  until  his  death,  ten  years  later. 
The  allied  monarchs  saw  to  it  that  his  brother, 
Charles  X,  succeeded  him,  but  the  allies  could  not 
prevent  the  French  from  turning  him  out  of  the 
country  within  six  years.  Nor  could  they  stay  the 
revolution  of  1848  which  banished  Louis  Philippe, 
the  last  Bourbon. 

Times  have  changed  since  the  French  revolution. 
Kings  have  lost  most  of  their  power  and  almost  all 
of  their  popularity.  They  cannot  get  together  and, 
under  the  direction  of  a  Metternich,  agree  that  the 
peace  of  Europe  demands  that  Russia  remain  an 
autocracy.  They  could  not  do  this  even  if  the  old 
combination,  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria,  England  and 
France,  had  not  been  violently  disrupted.  No  coun- 
try in  Europe  is  interested  in  restoring  the  Roman- 
off dynasty,  unless  it  be  the  country  of  the  Hohen- 
zollerns,  and  that  country  is  not  going  to  have  much 
to  say  about  the  world's  business  for  the  next  few 
years. 

There  may  be  no  counter-revolution  in  Russia, 
but  there  will  ultimately  be  a  return  to  sanity  and 
order.  There  will  be  a  constitutional  convention, 
not  too  soon,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  and  in  that  convention 
the  voice  of  the  leaders  of  the  moderate  parties  will 
be  heard.  Trotsky  may  be  a  delegate,  but  so  will 
Prof.  Paul  Miliukoff,  the  leader  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Democrats,  or  Cadets,  as  they  are  colloquially 
known.  All  through  the  riot  and  turmoil  of  the 
summer  Prof.  Miliukoff  and  his  colleagues  worked 
steadily  to  keep  the  party  alive,  to  keep  it  constantly 
in  the  foreground  as  the  liberal-conservative  force 


242     INSIDE  THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION 

which  might  at  least  share  in  shaping  the  new  consti- 
tution. 

There  are  plenty  of  wise,  sane  statesmen,  plenty 
of  good  citizens  in  Russia.  They  are  not  very  con- 
spicuous just  now,  and  for  good  reason.  A  fine 
old  French  abbe  who  was  asked  what  he  did  during 
the  Reign  of  Terror,  replied  simply,  "I  lived." 
Avoiding  assassination  is  a  career  in  itself  just  now 
in  Russia.  Many  of  the  wealthy  classes  and  the 
estate  owners  spent  the  summer  in  Finland.  Some 
went  to  England  or  the  United  States.  The  peas- 
ants in  many  parts  of  the  empire,  falling  in  joyfully 
with  the  Kerensky  plan  of  dividing  up  the  land,  be- 
gan the  process  by  sacking  and  burning  the  homes 
of  the  estate  owners,  destroying  their  fields,  orchards 
and  vineyards,  and  cutting  and  burning  their  forests. 
These  acts,  in  conjunction  with  riots  and  excesses  in 
the  towns  have  encouraged  the  intellectual  classes  to 
leave  the  country  and  to  take  no  part  in  politics. 

Despite  everything  that  has  happened,  despite 
these  excesses,  there  is  no  question  that  the  Russian 
people  in  revolt  have  contributed  greatly  to  the 
world's  democracy.  They  will  make  still  greater 
contributions,  I  believe.  They  have  a  long  road  to 
travel  before  they  establish  their  new  civilization. 
The  Russians  are  not  as  developed  as  the  English, 
the  French  or  the  Americans.  In  some  respects  thev 
are  no  further  developed  than  the  English  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth.  They  ride  in  street  cars, 
but  the  street  cars  were  made  in  Germany.  They 
use  the  telephone,  and  go  up  stairs  in  a  lift,  but  the 
telephone  and  the  lift  came  from  Sweden.  They 
have  only  recently  learned  to  use  modern  tools  with 


WHAT  NEXT?  243 

skill  or  to  farm  scientifically.  But  they  are  learn- 
ing very  fast.  They  are  learning  to  cooperate  in 
their  farming  faster  than  almost  any  other  people 
in  Europe,  which  to  my  mind  is  the  most  hopeful 
sign  of  all. 

For  I  am  just  as  much  of  a  socialist  as  when  I 
went  to  Russia  in  May,  19 17,  and  just  as  little  of 
an  anarchist.  I  believe  that  the  next  economic  de- 
velopment will  be  socialism,  that  is  cooperation, 
common  ownership  of  the  principal  means  of  pro- 
duction, and  the  administration  of  all  departments 
of  government  for  the  collective  good  of  all  the  peo- 
ple. I  believe  that  the  world  is  for  the  many,  not 
the  few.  But  Russia  has  demonstrated  that  there 
is  no  advantage  to  be  gained  by  taking  all  power 
out  of  the  hands  of  one  class  and  placing  it  in  the 
hands  of  another.  Too  much  power  rests  now  in 
the  hands  of  a  small  class.  But  that  class  never 
abused  its  power  more  ruthlessly  than  the  Russian 
Tavarishi  did  in  the  19 17  revolution. 

The  lesson  of  Russia  to  America  is  patient,  intel- 
ligent, clear-sighted  preparation  for  the  next  eco- 
nomic development.  Beginning  with  the  youngest 
children,  we  must  contrive  for  all  children  a  system 
of  education  which  will  create  in  the  coming  genera- 
tion a  thinking  working  class,  one  which  will  accept 
responsibility  as  well  as  demand  power,  and  into 
whose  hands  we  can  safely  confide  authority  and 
destiny. 


Printed  in  the  U.  S.  A, 


The  following  pages  contain  advertisements  of  a 
few  of  the  Macmillan  books  on  kindred  subjects 


Russia  in  1916 

By  Stephen  Graham 


Frontispiece,  121110,  $1.25 


"Impressionistic  pen-pictures  which  aptly  reflect  the 
mood  of  present-day  Russia.  ...  He  speaks  with  sym- 
pathy and  admiration." — New  York  Evening  Post. 

"Authentic,  instructive,  and  interesting.  He  is  both 
scholarly  and  practical.  He  has  a  storehouse  of  information 
in  a  mind  well  qualified  to  analyze  it.  .  .  .  In  this  vitally 
interesting  volume  he  gives  us  a  marvelously  clear  and  keen 
sketch  of  that  country  as  it  is  to-day  with  its  people,  noble 
and  peasant." — Philadelphia  Press. 

"A  keen,  penetrating,  sympathetic  study  of  Russian 
conditions  and  tendencies  during  the  war,  by  a  man  who 
knows  Russia  well  and  who  has  exceptional  ability  for 
making  his  own  observations  and  impressions  known  to 
others." — New  York  Tribune. 

"If  all  the  countries  at  war  had  such  an  interpreter  as 
Mr.  Graham,  we  should  be  able  to  look  more  deeply  into 
the  hearts  of  their  peoples." — Boston  Transcript. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers        64-66  Fifth  Avenue        New  York 


Russia  and  the  World 

By  Stephen  Graham 


Illustrated,  cloth,  8vo,r$2.25 


For  more  than  seven  years  Stephen  Graham  has  been  a  close  student 
of  things  Russian.  Compelled  by  an  intense  sympathy  with  the  coun- 
try and  its  people,  he  forsook  his  native  England  and  went  to  Russia 
when  he  was  twenty-three  to  study  at  first  hand  the  life  and  customs 
of  that  country.  This  was  the  beginning  of  an  attachment  which 
grew  stronger  with  the  years  and  out  of  which  have  come  several  of 
the  most  important  contributions  made  to  English  literature  bearing 
on  the  Russia  of  modern  times. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  present  European  war  Mr.  Graham  was  in 
Russia,  and  his  book  opens,  therefore,  with  a  description  of  the  way  the 
news  of  war  was  received  on  the  Chinese  frontier,  one  thousand  miles 
from  a  railway  station,  where  he  happened  to  be  when  the  Tsar's  sum- 
mons came.  Following  this  come  other  chapters  on  Russia  and  the 
War,  considering  such  subjects  as,  Is  It  a  Last  War?,  Why  Russia  Is 
Fighting,  The  Economic  Isolation  of  Russia,  An  Aeroplane  Hunt  at 
Warsaw,  Suffering  Poland:  A  Belgium  of  the  East  and  The  Soldier  and 
the  Cross. 

But  "Russia  and  the  World"  is  not  by  any  means  wholly  a  war 
book.  It  is  a  comprehensive  survey  of  Russian  problems.  Inasmuch 
as  the  War  is  at  present  one  of  her  problems  it  receives  its  due  consid- 
eration. It  has  been,  however,  Mr.  Graham's  intention  to  supply  the 
very  definite  need  that  there  is  for  enlightenment  in  English  and  Amer- 
ican circles  as  to  the  Russian  nation,  what  its  people  think  and  feel 
on  great  world  matters.  On  almost  every  country  there  are  more 
books  and  more  concrete  information  than  on  his  chosen  land.  In  fact, 
"Russia  and  the  World"  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  very  first  to 
deal  with  it  in  any  adequate  fashion. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers         64-66  Fifth  Avenue        New  York 


Through  Russian  Central  Asia 

By  Stephen  Graham 

Illustrated,  8vo,  $2.25 


This  book  describes  a  journey  by  the  author  through 
Russian  Central  Asia.  Among  the  topics  which  the  author 
touches  upon  are  the  Russian  pioneers,  Mohammedanism 
and  its  characteristic  expression,  the  colored  tribes,  Russian 
rule,  the  expansion  of  the  Russian  empire  and  the  ques- 
tion of  danger  to  India.  The  volume  tells  of  much  tramp- 
ing, of  wayside  experiences,  of  sights  in  the  desert  and 
nights  under  the  Asian  stars  or  in  the  tents  of  the  nomads. 


"A  delightful  book.  .  .  .  Always  and  everywhere  Ste- 
phen Graham  has  the  gift  of  transferring  his  knowledge  of 
Russia  to  the  reader's  heart  and  brain." — Chicago  Herald. 

"Full  of  information  and  as  charming  as  it  is  informing. 
It  is  rich  in  the  lure  of  the  open  road  ...  in  the  romance 
of  old  cities,  in  the  wilderness  of  the  vast  waste  spaces.  .  .  . 
In  the  view  it  gives  of  a  phase  of  Russian  life  entirely  new 
to  American  readers." — New  York  Times. 


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Publishers        64-66  Fifth  Avenue        New  York 


With  the  Russian  Pilgrims 
to  Jerusalem 

By  Stephen  Graham 

Decorated  cloth,  illustrated,  8vo,  $2.75 


The  journey  of  the  Russian  peasants  to  Jerusalem  has  never  been 
described  before  in  any  language,  not  even  in  Russian.  Yet  it  is  the 
most  significant  thing  in  the  Russian  life  of  to-day.  In  the  story 
lies  a  great  national  epic. 


"Mr.  Stephen  Graham  writes  with  full  sympathy  for  the  point  of 
view  of  the  devout,  simple-minded,  credulous  peasants  whose  compan- 
ion he  became  in  the  trip  by  boat  from  Constantinople  to  Jaffa  and 
thence  on  foot  to  the  holy  places." — The  Nation. 

"Apart  from  the  value  which  must  be  attached  to  the  authenticity  of 
the  glimpses  of  Russian  life  that  Mr.  Graham  gives  in  his  latest  book, 
it  also  clearly  ranks  him  as  the  best  modern  writer  of  the  saga  of  vaga- 
bondage."—N.  Y.  Times. 

"Mr.  Graham  has  written  an  intensely  interesting  book,  one  that  is 
a  delightful  mixture  of  description,  impression,  and  delineation  of  a 
peculiar  but  colorful  character." — Book  News  Monthly. 

"A  book  of  intensely  human  interest." — The  Continent. 

"The  book  is  beautifully  produced,  illustrated  with  thirty-eight  ex- 
ceptionally fine  snapshots,  and  is  of  commanding  interest,  whether  read 
as  a  mere  piece  of  adventure  or  as  revelation  of  an  almost  unknown 
tract  of  religious  belief." — Christian  Advocate. 

"The  story  is  written  with  a  graphic  and  eloquent  pen." — The  Con- 
gregationalist. 


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Publishers        64-66  Fifth  Avenue         New  York 


STAMPS  Sw  DATE 


YB  56097 


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